Jumbo-Visma’s lucky stars seem to be aligned, as after back to back victories in the deciding stages of the Tour de France, the team dominated Saturday’s time trial. The stage 20th was scheduled for 23rd July, and Wout Van Aert made a clean sweep with best time.
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Not only this, but Van Aert has also been termed as the most combative rider at Tour de France 2022. The judges bestowed upon him the title of “super-combatif.” His performance throughout the past three weeks was phenomenal. The 27-year-old has 3 stage wins to his name, and multiple super breakaways throughout the tour.
He continued to perform superbly throughout the time trial on Saturday and covered the 40.7 km stage at a total time of 47:59. His teammate Jonas Vingegaard stood second. Vingegaard gained a further of 8 seconds on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who finished third.
Van Aert’s in marks a third consecutive one for his team. Where the team has won hearts with their exceptional performance, they have also landed in hot waters. It is being speculated that the team will be required to undergo drug testing.
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A drained Van Aert talked about his efforts and said:
I’m super-tired after three weeks, I gave it my all day. And actually, I want to win races, and today I hoped to take the stage, and also that Jonas could secure his yellow
He further added:
It was a really fast time trial, but you had to keep [something] left for the final 6km with two hard climbs. I think I based my effort really well, I could accelerate in the final. And technically I didn’t make any mistakes, and it was a special setting coming to the top of this pretty village [Rocamadour]. Again, it’s a great day
All eyes are now set on the last dance, where Vingegaard already seems to be sweeping the dance floor clean.
Results
| POS | RIDER | TEAM | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wout van Aert | Jumbo-Visma | 47:59 |
| 2 | Jonas Vingegaard | Jumbo-Visma | + 19 |
| 3 | Tadej Pogacar | UAE Team Emirates | + 27 |
| 4 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | + 32 |
| 5 | Filippo Ganna | INEOS Grenadiers | + 42 |
| 6 | Bauke Mollema | Trek-Segafredo | + 01:22 |
| 7 | Mattia Cattaneo | Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team | + 01:25 |
| 8 | Fred Wright | Bahrain Victorious | + 01:32 |
| 9 | Maximilian Schachmann | BORA-hansgrohe | + 01:37 |
| 10 | Jan Tratnik | Bahrain Victorious | + 01:48 |
Also Read: Christophe Laporte Maintains Jumbo-Visma’s Winning Streak
Featured Image Via YouTube/ Dirk B Cycling
