So close to however thus far. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) got here inside a whisker of getting his Vuelta a España debut off to the very best of begins within the opening time trial at Lisbon however as an alternative needed to accept third place, with a doable crack on the lead within the phases to come back as a significant comfort prize.
Final to start out within the 12 kilometres ultra-flat TT take a look at alongside the shoreline of the River Tagus, Van Aert managed to safe the quickest time by the mid-way checkpoint, one second quicker than Czech Nationwide TT champion Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek).
Nevertheless, the ultimate section within the uncovered race didn’t see Van Aert preserve his benefit. He dropped off the tempo barely, repeating his third place of the current Olympic Video games TT, fractions of a second behind Vacek and two seconds behind stage winner and opening Vuelta chief Brandon McNulty (UAE Group Emirates).
Van Aert remained upbeat, nevertheless, telling Eurosport and different media afterwards that he had “the whole lot to play for” within the phases to come back. And as one of many high sprinters within the 2024 Vuelta a España discipline, even a 3rd place time bonus at a stage end, price 4 seconds within the Spanish Grand Tour, may simply be sufficient to place Van Aert into pink, maybe as quickly as Sunday.
“I didn’t really feel nice, I simply felt good, however too quickly within the TT it began to harm,” Van Aert mentioned afterwards, “and at that time, it was nonetheless an extended solution to the end.”
“I don’t know actually what the total result’s, I believe I completed fairly brief [far back], however my feeling was not what I hoped for.”
The final rider down the beginning ramp, Van Aert mentioned that he was glad he opted to start out so late within the day, given the wind was dropping just a little by that time. On the very least, he mentioned, “There was much less wind than within the recon.”
“It was the fitting choice, it was only a disgrace to not end it off. But when we couldn’t end any nearer as a result of the legs weren’t nice, we nonetheless needs to be completely happy.”
As for what the long run now holds, Van Aert has promised to combat for stage wins all through the Vuelta and as he mentioned “I’m additionally desirous about the pink jersey. So if I’m nonetheless shut I’ll give it a shot within the subsequent few days, for positive we’ll go for it within the dash.”
When knowledgeable that there was solely a margin of two seconds between himself and McNulty, Van Aert responded, “Then there’s the whole lot to play for. That’s nice.”
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