Van Aert responds to Pogacar's alternative Tour de France build-up: 'They know what they do'

After winning the bunch sprint on stage 4, but being denied victory courtesy of the breakaway, Wout van Aert is eyeing a greater reward on stage 5, hoping this time to sprint for the victory rather than minor placings.

“From the sprint I take away some confidence, of course. It was a good sprint for me, and unfortunately it was not for the win,” Van Aert told media in CyclingPro.net at the sign-on for stage 5.

Leading home the bunch was a positive sign for Van Aert, who had questioned his form after being dropped just 8km into Stage 3's team time trial. 

Despite the step in the right direction, Van Aert insists there is still significant room for improvement ahead of his ultimate goal, which is peaking in July for the Tour de France.

“I think the first two days were not easy for me. And also yesterday, I mean, it was nice to be there, but it was also the easiest stage so far we get, so yeah, I still need to improve a lot for the coming months, and I'm here to work for that every day,” said Van Aert.

“It's pretty important I always step up pretty much after a hard week like this, and yeah, I'm hoping for the same outcome on this occasion,” explained Van Aert.

With defending Dauphiné and Tour champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) opting to make his debut at the Tour de Suisse instead, Van Aert was asked if the World Champion might have chosen the wrong formula. 

Van Aert dismissed the idea, highlighting Pogačar’s history of hitting the ground running.

“Hopefully for us that's true, but yeah, I think Tadej [Pogačar] is by far the guy I know, that he’s the best in preparing himself through training,” said Van Aert. 

“If you see how good he is in the classics with barely racing. Yeah, I think they know what they do.”

Before Visma | Lease a Bike face off against Pogačar in July, four stages remain at the Dauphiné. 

Thursday’s 195.8km route from Saint-Chamond to Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes looks suited to a bunch sprint. However, as Van Aert pointed out, the lack of dedicated sprinters' teams on the start list could spark another breakaway, mirroring Wednesday's dynamic. 

“Yeah, honestly, with the longer flat stretch in the end, I think it's a bigger chance that it's controllable," said Van Aert.  

“But still racing with the same peloton and in a tough race like this one, there's always a bit of a lack of sprinting teams, so it will be again difficult to get the right group on the road."