Wout van Aert returned to super-domestique duties on stage 11 of the Vuelta a España after being given his opportunity and missing out yesterday, and it paid dividends as he perfectly piloted Matthew Brennan to a third stage victory in Lorca.
Questions were raised after Visma-Lease a Bike lost out to Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United) on stage 10 with Van Aert as plan A, but they put to bed any thought of issues between their established Belgian star and rising British talent, as they successfully combined once again.
Van Aert had signalled such a bounce back after the disappointment of Tuesday, stating that “The whole team threw themselves into it, and if we keep going like this, we will come out on top again, I am sure of that,” at the end of the stage.
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24 hours later and he’s been proven right already.
Not only was his lead-out near-perfect, but Van Aert was also active throughout the only categorised climb on the route, Alto del Morrion de Totana, marking each and every move to ensure Brennan had the chance to sprint.
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When Van Aert is at his best, he’s almost unshakeable over any terrain, and stage 11 looked like one of those days – when the tricky finale arrived, there was only ever going to be one outcome.
“We wanted to try to go through the [final] corner first and second today. That U-turn was a crucial point, and it worked perfectly. Christophe [Laporte] timed his effort perfectly,” said Van Aert in the mixed zone to Sporza.
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“I didn’t want to make the mistake of going into the corner too aggressively, and maybe I went a little too cautiously. But in the end, I was able to launch Matthew perfectly.
“In a sprint with a bend like that, as a lead-out, you have a good chance of finishing close. Christophe and I are similar types, and Matthew is very flexible. So it was nice to switch roles today.”
For Visma, even though Van Aert is one of their headline names, his willingness to help others on the team when it suits them better is what has made him the modern Grand Tour great he is.
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He’s long been sacrificing himself at the Tour de France for the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič in the past, and there’s a strong chance Simon Yates wouldn’t value many teammates more than Van Aert after his superhuman actions in the 2025 Giro d’Italia.
“Wout is the big leader from the team here, so he knows what is asked of him, and he puts pressure on everyone in a good way,” said Visma DS Frans Maassen to Cyclingnews before stage 11.
“He’s the best teammate you can wish for. So he could have won at least one stage, which Brennan won, but a big champ like Wout, he does the best for the team, and that’s nice to see.
“Of course, he also needs wins himself, and hopefully he will win one stage in this Vuelta, but on the other hand, he is an excellent teammate, and he wants to help Matthew win more stages,” as he showed on Wednesday evening.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Even while resigning himself to being the lead-out, not the sprinter, Van Aert was able to further his personal goals, adding green jersey points at the intermediate sprint and at the finish by coming fifth, but also moved up in the King of the Mountains classification to third, 12 points off the lead of Santiago Buitrago.
“Let’s say I really want to win the green jersey. We’re halfway through the race, and I remember from two years ago it can quickly change,” he said, before explaining his movements at the top of the climb.
“We really try to focus on that. But of course also that year in some breakaways I was able to take points for the mountains jersey and on days like today where the points are there ‘for free’, I don’t hesitate to take them.
“Let’s say a 10-second sprint is always there in the legs. It was a shallow climb with high speeds. We went up really fast, and because of that there was no breakaway anymore so I could use my explosivity to grab the points.”
Before crashing out of the 2024 edition, when he was on fire over all terrains in typical Wout van Aert fashion, the Belgian had been leading both the green points jersey classification and the KOM jersey.
In 2026, he is in the driving seat of one of those contests, and within striking distance of the other. It would be unlike Van Aert to say he has unfinished business, but don’t be surprised if by the time the race reaches Granada and the finale, there’s a double showing of the Visma star on the podium.
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