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Tour de France: Wout van Aert's trip to the moon

2021-07-07T21:45:16.251Z


Two mythical climbs to triumph: At the foot of the legendary Mont Ventoux, Wout van Aert celebrated perhaps the best victory of his career. With his climbing, he followed in the footsteps of Eddy Merckx.


Enlarge image

Wout van Aert in the lunar landscape of Mont Ventoux

Photo: David Stockman / dpa

At the foot of the giant:

Wout van Aert raced down the Mont Ventoux at more than 90 km / h in the direction of Malaucène.

Shortly before the goal he looked around again and again, but there was no longer a pursuer who could have been dangerous to him.

Van Aert looked over his shoulder straight into the camera, clenched his fist and cheered.

The stage win, after two climbing tours up to this mythical mountain, could no longer be taken from him.

The stage result:

Van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) won the 198.8 kilometers long eleventh stage from Sorgues to Malaucène ahead of Kenny Elissonde and Bauke Mollema from the Trek-Segafredo team. Overall leader Tadej Pogačar from UAE Team Emirates defended the yellow jersey. Read the stage report here.

Ventoux I:

“The Ventoux is a god of evil to whom sacrifices must be made. He never forgives weakness, he demands an almost unjust amount of suffering. ”This is what the philosopher Roland Barthes wrote in 1957 about Mont Ventoux, the 1909 meter high giant of Provence, which is considered one of the four“ holy mountains ”of the tour. The professionals had to endure this ailment up to the bald tip, the famous lunar landscape, twice. First they drove up the comparatively easiest path from Sault, then followed the most difficult climb over the village of Bedoín.

Almost like Merckx:

"Before the tour, I didn't expect that I could win this stage," said van Aert at the finish. The 26-year-old is a puncher, a classic specialist, in such difficult mountains other drivers actually have better chances. Van Aert joined a breakaway group of 16 riders. When this fell apart, he attacked on the second ascent to the Ventoux. As the first Belgian since cycling legend Eddy Merckx in 1970, van Aert reached the top of the mountain as a leader. Merckx had collapsed at the time and was put in an oxygen tent. Van Aert stayed on his feet. "It's one of the most iconic climbs in cycling," he said. "Maybe this is the best win of my career."

Mini-attack:

Shortly before the mountain summit, Tadej Pogačar no longer had a helper with him. Jonas Vingegaard, the man in the white jersey of the best young professional, attacked the overall leader. Pogačar continued, but couldn't keep up with the Jumbo-Visma team's high hopes. On the descent he caught up with Vingegaard again. In the overall standings, Pogačar now has a lead of 5:18 minutes over the runner-up Rigoberto Urán. He still seems unattainable.

Ventoux II:

The Ventoux is a myth. Because of its landscape, because of the strong winds at the summit - but above all because of the dramas that took place here. Like the one about Ferdi Kübler, which SPIEGEL reported on in 1955. The Swiss got off his bike three times and said: "It's pigs that do this to us!" But he reached the finish, where he swore: "Never again - never again!" Later he is said to have locked himself in the hotel room. If someone knocked on the door, Kübler shouted sentences like: "Ferdi will explode soon, Ferdi is loaded with dynamite!" Dynamite or bombs - those were the words for doping agents in the past. For the first time in the history of the tour, the sporting commissioners searched the rooms of the racing drivers and masseurs. They found arsenals of prohibited doping substances.

Mistrust:

Pogačar was so dominant in the first week that the mistrust towards him and his team grew again. His watt values ​​were incredibly good, his lead over the pursuers clear. On the day of rest on Monday, "L'Équipe" asked him how he was going to convince doubters. There are a lot of doping tests, he said: "I was tested three times yesterday, twice before and once after the stage." That was an answer that Lance Armstrong would have given earlier. There is no concrete evidence of possible doping at Pogačar.

Abandoned:

After the collision with the cardboard sign on the first stage, the Tour de France was not a good star for Tony Martin. Now the 36-year-old fell again, landed in the ditch and had to be treated covered in blood. Then Martin lay down on a stretcher and was taken to the hospital. In addition to Martin, seven other drivers had to give up on this stage. Of the 184 professionals who originally started, only 156 made it to the finish at the foot of the Ventoux.

It will be flat:

The twelfth stage on Thursday over 159.4 kilometers from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes will be flatter again. Then sprinter Mark Cavendish has the chance to celebrate his 34th stage victory in the Tour and thus to catch up with cycling legend Merckx, the Belgian still holds the record alone.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-07-07

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