{"id":8143,"date":"2025-05-23T14:31:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T12:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=8143"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:43:16","slug":"monster-van-aert-leadout-sets-up-kooij-victory-and-other-giro-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/05\/23\/monster-van-aert-leadout-sets-up-kooij-victory-and-other-giro-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Monster van Aert Leadout Sets Up Kooij Victory and Other Giro Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Giro d\u2019Italia appears to be a vital race for the renaissance of Wout van Aert and his Visma\u2013Lease a Bike team. After van Aert and two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard sustained serious injuries in separate crashes last year, both the rider and the team have been battling to regain the form that saw them win all three Grand Tours in 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Van Aert is back \u2013 Visma too?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

That may not happen again soon, and the team has not had a bad year at all with now 16 victories. But van Aert, returning from a serious knee injury sustained in the Vuelta, has struggled to become the \u201creal Wout.\u201d<\/a> To add to his problems, he fell ill a week before the start of the Giro and was still suffering the effects of the illness when the race started. So, after finishing second on stage 2 behind Mads Pedersen, he faded badly, misjudging a leadout for the team\u2019s sprinter, Olav Kooij, and seemingly short on legs.<\/p>\n

But he took a big victory on Sunday\u2019s stage 9 of the race, after a crash on a white gravel sector slowed most of the peloton and left him in a six-rider lead group that the bunch never caught. He then beat the surprise race leader, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG), in a sprint in Siena. Then, on Thursday\u2019s stage 12, after teammate Edoardo Affini brought van Aert and Kooij in position at the head of the peloton, the 31-year-old Belgian rode an astonishing lead-out of some 700 meters to bring his sprinter in position, and Kooij did the rest, winning his second Giro stage and recording the fortieth professional victory of his career. Not bad at all for a 23-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were waiting for this one, or I was waiting,\u201d he told TNT afterwards. \u201cWe grew into the race as a team with Simon [Yates] being in a good position, Wout taking that stage win\u2026 In the other two sprints, I didn’t go right, so I’m really happy that today we could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know the saying You win or you learn<\/em>,\u201d van Aert said<\/a>. \u201cAnd on the last few occasions, we didn’t win. But, of course, we learnt from it, and today we stayed more calm and that’s how Edo, Olav and I could use each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Yates, who came to Visma at the beginning of the year and has had lacklustre performances, he has looked strong here and currently sits fifth, only 1:11 behind del Toro. If his form holds up, he could present his team with a Grand Tour podium finish, which would be a big confidence booster ahead of the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n