Visma-Lease a Bike duo go up the road together but miss out on stage victory
There was something of a mini Belgian battle within the breakaway on stage 15 of the Tour de France, with the Visma-Lease a Bike duo of Wout van Aert and Victor Campenaerts going in search of the stage win, but were beaten by Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
The pair worked hard to get in the day’s breakaway, even amidst the chaos of their team leader Jonas Vingegaard being caught behind a crash, and eventually made it up the road.
However, just making it into the group was hard enough, and they were marked all day.
“Full gas all the way,” was how Van Aert summed up his day. “[It was] pretty chaotic in the beginning with this crash where Jonas was behind, it was hard to play the right tactic because any way we wanted to be in the break, but we also somehow wanted to slow down so he could come back in the bunch, so it was a bit tricky.
“But I think we managed well, there was good communication. Victor and I were in the front group, but actually we rode the whole day on a tight leash, and that took a lot of effort.”
It was clear Visma were targeting the stage win – something they have particularly pivoted towards now Vingegaard has such a deficit from the overall lead – but in the end, they were beaten by a long-range attack from Wellens that no one in the break could follow.
They did secure second with Victor Campenaerts going on his own solo move, though Van Aert was beaten by Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) for third, foiling the chances of a fully Belgian 1-2-3.
“I’m feeling very good this Tour, and we said today we wanted to go for the stage,” Campenaerts explained. “It was a good situation with Wout and me in the breakaway, but Wellens… We have a good relationship outside of cycling, but in the races, he’s the guy that you don’t want to have in the breakaway.”
With his win on Sunday, Wellens became the latest rider to record stage wins in all three Grand Tours, so he is certainly a rider who knows what it takes to be successful in these situations.
“He’s smart, he’s sneaky, he knows how to play it. He wasn’t allowed to do any pulls, he was sitting on, but he was very strong, he didn’t miss any decisive moments, and he did a perfect move there on the highest point of the parcours,” Campenaerts said of his compatriot.
“Of course, second is not what we race for, so it’s a bit disappointing, but it is what it is. Wellens was really strong, very smart, and he didn’t stroll this victory. I knew straight away this was the guy to beat. He has experience, he’s going very well.”
With Wellens attacking alone, there was briefly a feeling that the break might be able to reel him back, but he proved too strong.
“With how fast we are right now, it’s so hard to bridge a 20-, 30-second gap or something, so you really need to be on top of things all the time, because it’s hard to make up time,” Van Aert said.
In the end, second and fourth is not a pair of results that will really move the dial for Visma-Lease a Bike or Campenaerts and Van Aert, but there was not too much to complain about after being beaten by a strong rider from the race’s strongest team.
“‘[Van Aert] said don’t be disappointed, we did what we could,” Campenaerts recalled after the stage. “Also, he was coming back with the group, and he said, ‘Campy, go for that second place, there’s a lot of guys coming so it will be tricky to win that sprint’. But winning is way nicer.”
The chance of winning the overall may look distant for the Dutch team at this point, but the second week has seen them chasing stage wins wherever possible, and they will be hoping that effort comes to fruition over the last six stages.
