'We are here for more': Van Aert praises Visma's team spirit as Grand Tour record looms

Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) once again produced the perfect lead-out for the Grand Tour debutant Matthew Brennan, who duly delivered to take his fourth victory on stage 16 of the Vuelta a España.

Brennan became the first rider to win four stages on his Grand Tour debut since Fernando Gaviria at the Giro d’Italia in 2017. 

For Visma meanwhile, the victory was their sixth of this Vuelta, with Van Aert taking the two others, bringing them level with six they claimed at the Giro d’Italia in May.

Victory on stage 17, another stage for the sprinters, would give Visma their most stage wins in a single Grand Tour, and that target is helping the team foster the same collective spirit that Van Aert remembers from the team’s successful 2022 Tour de France. 

It was a race where the Belgian claimed three of six stage wins for the team, along with the overall victory for Jonas Vingegaard.

“In a way yes,” Van Aert told Eurosport when asked if he had a similar feeling to four years ago. “Because also then we had an amazing team spirit, and everybody was going 100% for these victories."

That was evident once again on stage 16 with Visma taking responsibility for controlling the breakaway for much of the day. 

With the withdrawals of Christophe Laporte and Ben Tulett during the second week, the likes of Steven Kruijswijk and Jørgen Nordhagen have worked tirelessly on the front throughout the race, all while being at contrasting points in their career. 

Kruijswijk, who is riding the 24th and final Grand Tour of his career before retirement, stated post-stage that, “I told the team, ‘You can squeeze me like a lemon until the last drop, and I will give it all this Vuelta for the boys.”

Meanwhile, Nordhagen, who has been tipped to follow in the footsteps of Kruijswijk as a GC leader, has shown he is willing to get stuck in all terrain, and Van Aert praised the work of the duo.

“Big applause, especially for Steven [Kruijswijk] and Jørgen [Nordhagen], to pull so hard on the front of the bunch and give the breakaway no chance,” said Van Aert. 

The work of his teammates allowed Van Aert to thrive in piloting Brennan in the chaotic closing kilometres before delivering the final lead-out to perfection.

“I’m just trying to do my very best every day,” he said. “It’s, in the end, what I like about Grand Tour racing. There’s every day something to do.”

And with Brennan also showing no signs of slowing down, Visma have every reason to believe the record is within reach.”

“I mean, we are here for more,” said Van Aert. “We are very happy with what we have already, but, yeah, if you see how Matthew [Brennan] is sprinting, yeah, we hope to sprint again tomorrow and try to win the seventh.”