On stage 14 of the Tour de France, which finished in Lyon on Saturday, Wout Van Aert once again sacrificed his idea of winning and instead kept Jumbo Visma team leader and race leader Primoz Roglic safe in the last few kilometers of the stage He worked hard to keep the race leader, Primoz Roglic, safe in the last few kilometers of the stage.

"I was thinking about it," Van Aert admitted to Het Laatste Nieuws as he tried for his third stage win of the competition.

"I think it went perfectly," the 25-year-old Belgian continued. Slovenian Roglic maintained a 44-second advantage over compatriot Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and held on to third place overall, another 15 seconds behind favorite Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), safely in the main group of contenders for the win. Finish.

"It was a tough job for the team. It was important that Primozh did not lose time and finished unscathed."

VanArt has been successful two out of three times so far, being allowed to ride his own chances in the finale. Any other team leader would have had two or three more wins and would have been a strong contender for the green jersey.

These two victories were the first of many for the three-time cyclocross world champion, who defeated Cees Boll (Sunweb) and Deceuninck-Quick Step's Sam Bennett on stage 5 in Prevas and Edvald Boasson Hagen (NTT) and Bryan It was brought about when he defeated Coquard (B&B Hotels - Vital Concepts).

These two victories were preceded by a third place in Poitiers on stage 11 behind Caleb Yuan (Lotto-Soudal) and Bennett, when Van Aert was put on the shoulders of Peter Sagan of Bora-Hansgrohe in the sprint, a move that forced Sagan into the pack. Sagan was forced to the back of the pack.

But in the Belgian's second Tour de France, he seems happy to continue riding and learning for his team, and being allowed to take two stage wins at will certainly helped, and Van Aat heads to Paris next Sunday! He may still have a chance at the final stage, the Champs-Elysées, for example.