Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) joked that when he next goes for a Tour de France sprint, "I'll post it on Twitter", after telling the media at the start that he would be skipping out on any bunch kick into Laval on Saturday.
Three hours and 50 minutes after pulling the wool over journalists' eyes in Saint-Méen-le-Grand, his silver Red Bull helmet was right among the sprint chaos as Van Aert finished second to Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on the flat eighth stage.
It looked like the Van Aert of old, surfing wheels perfectly on his own and finding himself on the correct wheel of the big Italian, though the Belgian could find no extra speed to come out of Milan's wheel and deny him a Tour victory at this year's race. But there was no shame in that.
"A clean sprint, a worthy winner? Indeed," said Van Aert to the Flemish press, including Sporza, after the finish. "It was a tough sprint with uphill sections, so I wanted to participate – I was close.
"I'm definitely happy with this. My legs were good yesterday, and they were good today, too. As I said beforehand, it's difficult for me to beat guys like Milan."
Then came the jokes, with the question of his seemingly unplanned sprint participation cropping up. Van Aert is certainly having fun at this Tour de France, and he's keeping the media on their toes.
"It's also nice for me to get a result for once. I'd already decided before the stage to go for the sprint," added Van Aert, confirming that his participation in the bunch finish wasn't one of instinct.
"I'll announce it next time and put it on Twitter," he quipped. "When you start, you have every right to go for a result."
With another flat stage arriving tomorrow into one of Mark Cavendish's favourite-ever finish locations, Châteauroux, will Van Aert be in the mix once again, looking for that 10th stage win and his first for three years at the Tour?
"I'll think about it. Maybe I'll post it on Twitter, although I'm not sure I still have my password," said Van Aert, of course meaning the rebranded X, perhaps highlighting his time away from the social media website. His comments prompted a laugh out of the media gathered in front of Visma's team bus.
Visma's Head of Racing Grischa Niermann was more blunt about the Belgian's decision to hide his intentions for the sprint, responding to ITV at the team bus that, "Wout was going to sprint today, but he doesn't have to tell you up front".
He probably will sprint on stage 9 if he's in position, but the more important thing to note is that Van Aert's form is once again rising at a Grand Tour, after an illness-affected run-in. This happened at the Giro d'Italia in May, and he went on to win the ninth stage after an iconic gravel day into Siena, before playing a key role in Simon Yates' emotional and thrilling GC victory.
Yates took the Giro race lead on the penultimate day to Sestriere thanks to incredible shape, but he was also helped massively by Van Aert's invaluable work from the breakaway, where bridging to the Belgian helped the Brit break the then-pink jersey-holder Isaac del Toro's resolve in the chase.
Jonas Vingegaard made it safely through the sprint Saturday in Laval and will be holding hope Van Aert can develop as the race goes on, back to his previous best as one of the best Grand Tour domestiques in modern history. This sprint runner-up result could be the start of that.
"For sure, to see Wout getting second today is very nice," said Vingegaard at the finish. "Obviously, he would have liked to win, so that would have been even nicer."
It was unknown how much impact Van Aert would have on the 2025 edition, after his pre-race illness, already completing a tough Giro, and his form in recent Tours being away from his previous dominant best, but it looks like he's ready to burst into life again, as he did in the early 2020s.
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