Belgian Wout van Aert, luxury teammate of the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, will not start the 18th stage of the Tour de France to join his partner about to give birth, he announced Thursday in a video released by his team.
“As everyone knows, Sarah is pregnant and things are starting to pick up at home. In consultation with the team, we have decided that my place is there”, explains the star of Jumbo-Visma before this stage between Moûtiers and Bourg-en-Bresse promised to the sprinters.
His team almost won the Tour with the 7 minutes and 35 seconds lead of its leader Jonas Vingegaard over Tadej Pogacar after his monumental failure in the Col de la Loze the day before.
Wout van Aert leaves this Great Loop, his fifth, without a stage win, a first for the Belgian. “I often had the legs to win, but that didn’t happen,” comments the nine-time stage winner, who scored four podiums in this 2023 edition.
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