Wout van Aert soars to solo victory on stage 4, leaving absolutely nothing to chance

Wout van Aert soars to solo victory on stage 4, leaving absolutely nothing to chance

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.

With two men up the road – polka dot-wearer Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Frenchman Anthony Perez (Cofidis) – it was relatively quiet until the last 12 kilometres.

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. Together with the Ineos Grenadiers, Jumbo-Visma put the hammer down right at the base of the climb, gobbling up lone survivor Perez and setting up the inevitable attack.

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. Once Benoot was done, Van Aert took on the drive himself and managed to stretch out a few lengths of advantage over the crest.

With Vingegaard glued to Yates’s wheel and the peloton utterly shattered behind them, Van Aert buckled in and powered the last 10 km to the finish in Calais. After three days of second-place finishes, he was leaving nothing to chance. The stage win was his.

The diminished peloton finished just inside 10 seconds after Van Aert, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) celebrating victory from the bunch apparently unaware he was racing for a lower step of the podium (again). Third went to Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma).

Tour de France (2.UWT) Dunkerque → Calais

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