Van Aert after comeback victory: ‘I don’t have to doubt that anymore’

“It is really special, of course,” Van Aert told VTM after the finish in Aalborg. “Winning is always difficult, so to do it immediately is very impressive. It gives me a lot of satisfaction.”

Before the start, Van Aert had admitted that training alone could not tell him exactly where he stood. “I hope to find some answers here,” he said to VTM, describing the Tour of Denmark as an ideal race in which to resume competition.

Those answers arrived sooner than expected.

“I had the feeling that things were going well, but this was immediately a tough stage, especially the finale,” he said. “I felt that I was able to help make the difference. That is something I do not have to doubt anymore.”

His victory was made more impressive by the fact that his race could easily have ended much earlier. Van Aert was caught behind a large crash with around 75 kilometres remaining, at a moment when the peloton was preparing for possible splits in the crosswinds.

“It was a dangerous section where there was a chance of echelons, so there was a lot of activity,” Van Aert explained. “I was in the middle of the peloton and had nowhere to go when a lot of riders went down. Fortunately, I managed to stay more or less upright, but afterwards we had to chase.”

Once the groups had come back together, Visma | Lease a Bike used its numerical strength perfectly. Christophe Laporte joined a late breakaway, allowing Van Aert to conserve energy before launching his own move on the final ascent of Molleparken.

Laporte’s presence at the front also gave the team two possible routes to victory.

“The plan was to send Christophe or somebody else up the road so that I could save my strength for the final lap,” Van Aert said. “That worked perfectly, although the gap had become quite big.”

“We always had two cards to play. If I did not manage to close the gap, Christophe was still there and did not have to work for the others. It worked out perfectly.”

Van Aert bridged across to the leading group with Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek) before Laporte helped control the final kilometres. The Belgian then opened his sprint early and held off Lukas Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets) to secure the stage victory and the first leader’s jersey.