BARCELONA, 17 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Belgian cyclist Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) highlighted the loss of his teammates Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk this Sunday in the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France, so the overall leader Jonas Vingegaard will have to continue his search. of glory in the French race without two squires.
“Losing two teammates in one day will change my Tour de France. I don’t know to what extent we will have to modify our strategy, but of course it will affect us. We had very bad luck today. Still, we were a strong team and we will follow it.” being”, said the green jersey of the points classification.
In the case of the Slovenian Roglic, he did not start with physical problems due to his fall in the fifth stage and left the Tour for the second consecutive year. The Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk did participate in the race but abandoned after falling and leaving in an ambulance.
In fact, Van Aert was involved in the fall of his teammate. “There was something on the road, someone in the peloton braked, Steven couldn’t do it in time and went down. It was a stupid crash,” he said.
“As soon as I got up, I saw that he had hurt himself. I waited a bit for him to try to get back into the peloton together, but he couldn’t get back on the bike,” he added.
The Belgian was part of the day’s breakaway in the opening kilometres, although he was instructed to cease his effort and return to the peloton. “I attacked expecting a big break to form. I preferred to be on the run than chasing in the peloton”, he valued.
“In the end we were only three ahead and because my radio was broken I couldn’t get directions from the car or information on how the race was going. Until the team car caught up with me I didn’t know if it was convenient or not. not that he lifted his foot,” he concluded.
Once the fifteenth stage is over, Vingegaard retains the yellow jersey for one more day and this Monday the race will take a break before facing the final week.