Wout van Aert puts stage win aside for different goal in Tour of Denmark finale

Wout van Aert won the first three stages of the Tour of Denmark for Visma | Lease a Bike, but he and his team adopted a relatively restrained approach on stage four. The Dutch squad allowed the breakaway some freedom, which enabled Uno-X Mobility rider Storm Ingebrigtsen to take advantage and win from the day’s move.

Van Aert already had three victories in the bag, while major objectives including the Vuelta a España and the World Championships in Montreal are still to come. The decision was therefore made to take a slightly more conservative approach in Denmark on Saturday, he explained afterwards on the team’s website.

“The most important goal today was to secure our position in the general classification. It was a tough race in which we constantly had to remain alert and tried to keep the race under control. It was up to the other teams to go all-in for the stage victory, but in the end the breakaway simply proved to be the strongest today,” the Belgian said.

The Belgian will not immediately focus on claiming a fourth stage victory in the final stage of the Tour of Denmark either, as he has another objective in mind.

“Tomorrow, the main task is to bring the leader’s jersey safely home. That is where our full focus lies. Christophe is one of my best friends. It would be great if we could stand together on the final podium tomorrow. We are going to try to make that happen,” Van Aert said.

Laporte is currently fourth in the overall standings, one second behind Uno-X rider Henrik Pedersen.