Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike): “[The difference was made by] Kaden [Groves] being a tiny bit stronger. I think I didn’t make mistakes in the sprint. I knew it was an uphill sprint, it was important not to go too early so I think I went on the right moment. I thought I got in front of him but in the last few metres my legs cramped and Kaden passed me again. I wouldn’t dare to say [we should have made the race harder before] otherwise my teammates would kill me! It was a super hard race. I’m extremely proud of how we tried to control the race, especially at the beginning, with a lot of riders interested in the breakaway. We were the only ones trying to keep control of the race and tomato the race a sprint. Also, on the last climb, I needed my teammates to keep the bunch together. It makes it an extra pity that I couldn’t finish it off but it was definitely a hard day. These [KOM] points were basically there for free. Nobody was sprinting for it so I went for the points.”
