Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) won Stage 5 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in Villars-les-Dombes on Thursday and said afterwards that the sprint was built around a deliberate positional plan: the final straight bent to the right and a crosswind blew from the left, so the team aimed to put him next to the right-hand barriers where rivals would have to ride into the wind to come around him.
The 195.8km stage from Saint-Chamond to Parc des Oiseaux finished in a bunch sprint, with Van Aert crossing first ahead of Hugo Hofstetter and Phil Bauhaus.
"Obviously we did a good study of the course," Van Aert said in a post-finish video interview by CyclingProNet. "The final stretch was always bending a bit more to the right and then some crosswind from the left. It was our aim to be on the right side. I could sprint next to the barriers and people need to come through the wind to pass me. That was a tactic and it played out pretty well."
The positioning meant Van Aert sprinted in the sheltered lane along the barriers, while anyone trying to overtake had to swing left into the exposed side of the road. By the time they moved, Van Aert had a wind advantage.
Van Aert credited the win as a collective effort, singling out Bruno Armirail (Visma | Lease a Bike) for his role in controlling the race before the sprint. "Everyone was committed to make this a bunch sprint, with Bruno as our MVP," he said. "He's so strong, pulled that break back and still kept us in position for a really long time." Van Aert added that teammates then delivered him into the final metres for the lead-out.
It came after a tricky day in the team time trial on stage 3, where Van Aert was conspicuously dropped. "I had a difficult day on the team time trial but still enjoyed that victory and seeing how proud the other boys were," he said.
The result followed a strong few days for the Belgian. On Stage 4, he had been the fastest finisher from the peloton but was denied by the breakaway. Earlier in the race, he described having a difficult day on the team time trial, though Visma | Lease a Bike still won that stage. Stage 5 gave him a result of his own.
Asked whether the win was good preparation for the mountains ahead and the Tour de France, Van Aert kept his assessment measured. "Hopefully yes. Time will tell," he said. "I think you should enjoy the moment always. I had a difficult day on the team time trial but still enjoyed that victory and seeing how proud the other boys were."
The race heads into the mountains on Stage 6, you can see a breakdown of the key moments to tune into the stage in our Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes viewing guide here.
Cover image credit: Gaetan Flamme
