Former Vuelta winner believes Wout van Aert made mistakes during sprint win: 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!'

Chris Horner, winner of the 2013 Vuelta a España, commented on Van Aert's tactical approach in his analysis of the 15th stage of the Vuelta a España, which was won by Wout van Aert. The American argues that Van Aert was clearly the strongest rider in the group, but still made a mistake in the final stretch.

Horner is talking about the final five kilometers toward Córdoba. “Wout van Aert is making a huge, huge mistake right now. There are five riders at the front, and three of them are just smoothly following along with the leader,” he says, referring to Alessandro Romele (XDS-Astana), Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek), and Ramses Debruyne of Alpecin-Premier Tech.

Andreas Leknessund, riding for Uno-X, was the odd one out by not joining the breakaway. “If you’re Van Aert at that moment, you swerve to the left side of the road and you see Leknessund sitting there… and you want him to close the gap. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth when you’re Wout van Aert! This was a gift! You had three guys working with you, Wout van Aert! What, what more could you possibly want?!”, said Horner.

"You're Wout van Aert! You're the big man, a top-tier rider, currently in a group with riders from the second and third tiers! So what do you want? Three guys working with you...," Horner analyses.

In the end, Van Aert had to close the gap to one of the breakaway riders himself. “That’s how you, as the big man, create problems for yourself.”

On the other hand, Horner also saw how Van Aert ultimately pulled it off fairly easily by controlling the others in the final kilometer. Although the American notes that he also got a little help from Nys. “He didn’t ride tactically smart by starting the sprint as early as 300 meters out. It was the perfect scenario for Van Aert.”

"Van Aert was amazing in the sprint. It was great to see how he let the gap to Nys open up just a little bit, only to close it again and beat him at the finish. That's the kind of tactic I love," Horner concludes his account.