Is Wout van Aert a future Tour de France winner? | Tour de France 2022 Stage 18

Wout Van Aert: "I can target the mallet Jaune one day."

Today’s stage saw Jonas attack Tadej on the final climb gaping him by just over a minute. Both protagonists give their reaction to the action on stage 18.

Jonas told the media: “It’s incredible. I told my girlfriend and daughter this morning that I wanted to win the stage for them. I’m happy and proud that I won for them. When Tadej crashed, he kinda missed a corner and went into some gravel. The bike disappeared under him and I waited for him. I have to thank all my team-mates, Wout, Sepp, Tiesj, Nathan, Christophe, everyone was incredible again today. I need to stay focus and keep taking it day by day. I don’t want to talk about winning the Tour yet. Let’s talk about it in two days.”

Tadej thinks that he has lost the Tour de France, but tells the media he will push for the win regardless.

"There couldn’t be a better way to lose the Tour de France than this. I gave it all today thinking of the GC. I will leave the race with no regrets. There is still one stage left I might win before Paris, and I will push for it. Jumbo-Visma has been perfect in this Tour de France. Chapeau to them, as they have been really strong every day. As for today, the best man won. Jonas [Vingegaard] was stronger than me. I already gave it all on the second-to-last climb, but I feel I still had something left for an attack on the final climb. Unfortunately, I crashed, and the crash took its toll from me. I tried to follow the Jumbo-Visma guys all the way to the summit, but they were too strong.
I have nothing but respect to Jonas Vingegaard. I think we respect each other a lot. When he decided to wait for me after my crash, he was on a good position to do it as he had teammates all over the road. It was fine for him to wait. It’s me who wanted to go fast on the descent, but I pushed it too far and crashed – can’t blame anyone for that."

Last up Wout van Aert thinks that he could target the mallet Jaune one day.

“Above all, I’m proud of everything the team has done today. Personally, I’m proud to have contributed to it. When I heard that Pogacar got dropped, I thought I had to give all the energy that was left in my body. That’s what I did and Jonas managed to continue solo for three kilometres. After the signal UAE Team Emirates gave yesterday, we wanted to attack today. We had to handle the responsibilities. That’s why I attacked from km 0. It was crazy… one of the most incredible days in my career. I finish third and that was maybe a good test to know if I can target the Maillot Jaune one day. But I managed to do that today whereas I lost twenty minutes yesterday. To do during the whole Tour is another story. I realise that I could also have the polka dot jersey. Had I known, I would have sprinted at the Aubisque!”

Do you think Wout van Aert has what it takes to win the tour?

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[davidquant]

I absolutely Think he could win the Tour De France one day. Imagine he’s the one being shielded and helped by teammates and not needing to be the workhorse all the time. Do you know how much consistent energy that would free up over 21 stages? A lot!. Athletes from different sports have tinkered and adapted their bodies many times to achieve a new goal. His confidence and belief will be through the roof after this tour.

[chowzisiong]

He is a solid all rounder but on mountain stages he might lose some. It's hard to tell. Regardless, he will be remembered as a very solid rider.

[FRanceSource]

Respect to Wout!!!! Still a winner in my book.

[jveselysks]

I think he is definitely capable to win both green jersey and polka dot jersey next year. But driving in top 10 is different story.

[Kns]

No, not the way his body composition is right now, and if he loses 10kg he will not be Wout anymore. Classics are just to important for someone like him. The days of 100km + of TT and team TT is long gone, that's why we don't see Indurain types anymore. Jonas would slap him with 2-5min on every summit finish.