Van Aert explains: Why wasn’t the Belgian in the large and promising breakaway group in the 11th Vuelta stage?

You don't often see the Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike beating around the bush, and Wednesday was no exception. "It's not that I wanted to give my chance to win to the other riders; I just didn't have the legs for it," explained the three-time stage winner of this Vuelta a España in his flash interview as the holder of the green jersey.

From the moment the starting gun went off in the transitional stage with plenty of climbing, the Belgian already felt it wasn't going to be his day. "In the first half-hour of the stage, I really struggled. I could feel the efforts from the day before," said Van Aert, who had to work hard on Tuesday to secure his third stage win. "But today, it was really about counting down the kilometers."

Despite this, Visma | Lease a Bike was represented in the large breakaway group by Attila Valter and Steven Kruijswijk. The Hungarian was in the chase group behind Dunbar and eventually finished eleventh, while Kruijswijk, from Nuenen, couldn't keep up on the final steep climb and finished nineteenth in the day's results.

"It was great to see them riding at the front. I was hoping they would do well, but I wasn't aware of the situation. Nevertheless, it was a good effort," analyzed the team leader at Visma | Lease a Bike, who will also need his climbing legs again on Thursday.