Wout van Aert

Wout van Aert of the Netherlands captured the hilly fourth stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday and is now 25 seconds ahead of Yves Lampaert in the ...

Perez pulled ahead some 45 kilometers (28 miles) out, and Cort was caught by the peloton shortly after. It was up to me to finish it off.'' The Jumbo-Visma rider flapped his hands like a bird's wings as he sat up on his bike. It was definitely a tough climb but this stage was very likely going to end up in bunch sprint,'' Van Aert said. The 27-year-old Van Aert is considered one of the best multiskilled riders in the world and is a former three-time cyclo-cross world champion and a one-day classics specialist. I went all-out.''

Belgian rider drops the best climbers in the world, holds off the chase from the peloton but Roglič shows rare weakness.

We were just there, the situation was there, and the guys were super strong. Despite only a handful of seconds of an advantage van Aert built up around 30 seconds on the chasing peloton and held on to win his first stage of this year’s race. The Slovenian played down the importance of his performance, stressing that his positioning had not been ideal on the approach to the climb itself.

Wout van Aert finally got his stage win at the 2022 Tour de France, going solo 11 kilometres from the finish to take a famous victory in the yellow jersey.

The stage win was his. Tiesj Benoot’s full gas effort forced splits on the steepest ramps, only Van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) sticking with him. The one-kilometre Côte du Cap Blanc-Nez, average of 7.2%, made the perfect launchpad for an attack, and Jumbo-Visma had loomed ominously on the approach.

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) broke his sequence of near misses on the Tour de France in emphatic fashion when he soloed to victory on stage 4 in Calais after ...

He lasted almost to the base of the day's final climb, where Ineos sensed the imminent danger and positioned their GC men at the front just before Jumbo-Visma took over. Cort, as per the tacit accord, also led the escapees over the day's penultimate climb of the Côte du Ventus with 47km to go, before allowing Perez to attack alone shortly afterwards. This was the first Tour de France stage on French roads in 2022, but thoughts remained firmly in Denmark at the start in Dunkirk, where a minute of applause was observed to remember the victims of a mass shooting in Copenhagen on Sunday afternoon. So I decided to go alone and then it was 10k of all-out suffering." That was something of an understatement. "It was OK, Van Aert dropped even his teammates, and when I saw that, I was more calm and I didn't stress."

The Belgian attacked in the final 11km of the race, and powered to victory as he extends his lead in the yellow jersey.

Pushing speeds of 70kmh while wearing the yellow jersey, Van Aert managed to build up a gap of 22 seconds heading into the final 7km. Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) crossed the line in second. Indeed, despite the peloton's best efforts, Van Aert couldn't be caught. Anthony Perez (Cofidis) joined him in the breakaway, which rose to more than three minutes after just 7km of racing. At this point, Jumbo-Visma had dramatically upped the tempo, splitting the peloton up the hill. Soon after, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl opted to increase the pace at the front of the peloton, splitting the bunch in two. With 2km until the finish, the gap was 20 seconds. Despite working hard, the peloton reduced the deficit over the next 15km as each team tried jostling for position to get themselves into the optimal place for the likely bunch sprint. Having won five of the six climbs on stage four, Magnus Cort eventually called time on his escapade out front. Over the next three categories climbs, Cort proceeded to pass each summit first. However, the Belgian kicked again during the ascent as he built up a considerable gap over the other riders, rising to around 30 seconds heading into the final 6km. Initially his Jumbo-Visma teammates joined him, with Ineos Grenadiers the only other team able to follow.

Wout van Aert won the hilly fourth stage of the Tour de France and extended his overall lead after attacking strongly on the day's final climb on Tuesday.

It was up to me to finish it off.” Perez pulled ahead some 28 miles out and Cort was caught by the peloton shortly after. The Jumbo-Visma rider flapped his hands like a bird’s wings as he sat up on his bike. It was definitely a tough climb but this stage was very likely going to end up in bunch sprint,” van Aert said. “It was difficult to finish alone, but thanks to the work of my teammates, I did it. “I went full gas to see what would happen.

Versatile Belgian ace talks staying patient after his second places and Jumbo-Visma's opportunity to attack the cobbles.

I’m really looking forward to doing a stage like this in the Tour de France. If we can help Jonas and Primož to try something, that would be good.” “It’s something we always try to combine and that’s not easy. There could be more to come tomorrow from Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma on the pavé of stage 5. “Of course I did not expect to end up alone but the moment I hit the top, I could see Jonas behind with one other,” he explained. And also maybe with a bit more wind, we could actually try something for Jonas and Primoz,” Van Aert said. His victory celebration, flapping his arms as he crossed the line solo, was symbolic.

Belgian Wout van Aert made a late solo break to win stage four of the Tour de France and extend his overall lead on Tuesday.

"This is an exceptional win for me. This is something new for me and is a really special moment," said Van Aert. Van Aert's feat was a rare act of brilliance that will live long in the memory, and makes up for the disappointment of his three narrow misses.

Jakobsen continues green jersey fight as Philipsen accidentally celebrates second place.

I never saw him go on the climb and I didn't hear on the radio that he was leading either. "When I saw the peloton was split, my legs were really empty and, in the end, Wout van Aert was too strong for everyone. So, I hope you can set this straight on internet for me because I admire him, I love him, and he's like a big brother to me, so I want to say that." I saw somewhere in interviews that I said or that there was being said that Mark Cavendish did not congratulate me yet, but he did. It's not the first time that the leader of the green jersey – that can always happen something in a race. "No, I think I think you just need to collect points to even be in," Jakobsen said, noting there were maybe three or four sprint chances left in the race.

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The devastating manner in which Wout van Aert despatched the entire Tour de France peloton on the road to Calais showcased a rider at the peak of his ...

The 27-year-old from Alpecin-Deceuninck may have won the Tour of Flanders in Van Aert’s absence earlier this season, but he’s clearly many years behind his old rival when it comes to his achievements and capabilities in Grand Tour stage racing. For there are few riders who can turn themselves inside out in the same way as Van Aert – and perhaps no one after already putting in such a huge effort on the preceding climb. "We were a bit far back and we couldn't see Van Aert in the front," Philipsen later said. What's more, Van Aert now has that rarity only enjoyed by a handful of select riders: a Tour stage win, solo, while in yellow. But the lone leader still had it all to go when going over the summit just ahead of Vinegaarde and Britain’s Adam Yates of Ineos Grenadiers. In his third, he pulled off cycling’s equivalent of football’s left foot-right foot-header perfect hat-trick: a TT win, a bunch sprint on the Champs-Elysees, and a solo mountain scalp over Mont Ventoux.

'The yellow jersey gave me wings' says Belgian after stage 4.

But ultimately the day belonged to Van Aert, who even received a tribute from no less a figure than Bernard Hinault, now reconverted from his prior role at ASO into a straight-talking French TV analyst. But when describing how Jumbo-Visma had hatched the opportunity, Van Aert paid tribute to his teammates for how they had helped incubate the day's success. As Van Aert recounted afterwards, "the plan was really made long before the Tour had started, because if you looked at the course, it was quite demanding, always up and down. It was still a long way though." So of course, I was motivated to win in this jersey. After his three second places on the three preceding stages, it almost felt like poetic justice that, rather than Primož Roglič or Jonas Vingegaard, Van Aert was the last segment of the yellow-and-black coloured rocket to blast off, some 500 metres from the summit.

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Wout van Aert escapes crashing into the back of a DSM car as a barrage is called. The yellow jersey was following his teammates through a right hand corner when a touch of wheels and brush with some road furniture saw him come down. The fall took place just under 20km before the first of 11 sectors of cobbles.

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) narrowly avoided disaster on Stage 5 of the Tour de France as he crashed and then nearly hit a team car.

From the heights of yesterday for Van Aert to the lows of today, crashing. The yellow jersey in the Tour de France going down. He was just moving his right arm as well as he got back on the bike so not ideal. He had a slight glance down and he was looking to the side, realises the car has stopped maybe a bit earlier than he was thinking. "Now, Van Aert got up immediately, but he was holding his collarbone. "He was behind his own car and all the team cars ahead had to brake and they will often not brake until the last possible moment.