Van Aert towers on iconic Mont Ventoux
Raucous crowds cheered Wout van Aert to a frantic stage 11 win on the Tour de France on Wednesday after a double ascent of Mont Ventoux.
UAE Emirates leader Tadej Pogacar retained the overall lead by more than five minutes over his pursuers after a long, dare-devil descent to the finish line with EF Education Nippo’s Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Ineos Grenadiers’ Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz.
Jumbo-Visma’s Van Aert crossed the summit of ‘the Giant of Provence’ alone in his Belgian champion’s shirt on a baking day, and was greeted after his expert descent by a partisan pack at the finish line.
“There’s loads of Belgians here,” said an exultant Van Aert, who played to the crowds bending his ear to their acclamation.
On this iconic climb, where Tom Simpson died in 1967 and where Eddy Merckx, Marco Pantani and Chris Froome climbed to memorable wins, Van Aert’s effort was magnificent, and he rode with a free spirit now that his team leader Primoz Roglic is out injured.
“It’s my best victory ever,” said Van Aert, who finally reaped his reward, after his attacking riding helped light the Tour fuse on the opening stages.
Behind him his teammate Jonas Vingegaard climbed into the top three, crossing the line in the small group that included Pogacar, 1min 38sec after Van Aert.
Pogacar leads Uran of EF Education-Nippo by 5min 18sec, Dane Vingegaard is third 14 seconds further back and a second ahead of Carapaz, while
Australian Ben O’Connor is fifth.
Colombian Nairo Quintana kept the polka-dot climber’s points jersey.
STAGE 11 RESULTS
1. Wout van Aert (BEL/JUM) 5hr 17min 43sec, 2. Kenny Elissonde (FRA/TRE) at 1:14, 3. Bauke Mollema (NED/TRE) 1:14, 4. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAE) 1:38, 5. Rigoberto Uran (COL/EF1) 1:38
STANDINGS
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAE) 43hr 44min 38sec, 2. Rigoberto Uran (COL/EF1) at 5:18, 3. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN/JUM) 5:32, 4. Richard Carapaz (ECU/INE) 5:33,
5. Ben O’Connor (AUS/AG2) 5:58