Van Aert rides best values ever in Giro and reveals his Tour de France plan: "Would’ve liked to make it a goal"

So far, the Giro has already been extremely tough due to the high pace and the battles between GC riders, but Stage 16 marks the start of a very different kind of racing. “Today, a different Giro really begins,” Van Aert told Sporza. “From now on, it’s mountain stages. We haven’t had any long climbs yet, so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out in the real mountains.”

A stage like the 16th, featuring 4,700 meters of elevation and a tough uphill finish, can have a big impact on the general classification. That makes it all the more important for Visma | Lease a Bike to keep Yates at the front. So far, the Brit has held up impressively in the climbing battles. “He’s slipped into the right spots and stayed out of trouble. He’s close in the GC, and we’re very happy with that.”  

Simon Yates, who finished third overall in 2021, can at least count on a very strong Wout van Aert. After a tough start to the Giro, the all-rounder is finding his rhythm again, and it shows. On Instagram, the Belgian shared some of his performance data from the race so far. It turns out he’s set personal bests for both 1-minute and 10-minute power outputs: a staggering 852 watts and 518 watts, respectively. Truly insane stats! It’s worth noting that these are absolute values, not watts per kilogram. Van Aert may have been lighter at some point, but his sheer power output right now is off the charts.

After the Giro, all eyes turn to the Tour de France, where Van Aert will be a key part of the team built around Jonas Vingegaard. What wasn’t clear until now was how his calendar would look in the lead-up to La Grande Boucle. He has now confirmed that he’ll only race once between the Giro and the Tour. “The only race I’ll do before the Tour is the Belgian National Road Race Championship. No time trial nationals, because we’re going to a high-altitude camp instead.”  

“We’ll try to extend that camp as long as possible, right up until the road race. So I wouldn’t have a proper build-up for the TT anyway, and unfortunately, I won’t be there.” The Visma rider admitted he doesn’t rate his chances in a TT right now, so he’s skipping it. “With a different season plan, I would’ve loved to make it a goal. But you ride a championship to win, and if you know in advance that’s not realistic, then it’s better to focus everything on the Tour.”