Wout van Aert received a strong push from Peter Sagan in full sprint and could immediately forget a possible third stage victory in this Tour. Sagan raced to second place, but was downgraded.
Paul Herygers also thinks Sagan has gone too far. “After what we experienced in the Tour of Poland, you shouldn’t be doing this anymore. It was pretty brutal. Fortunately, Van Aert is stable and he was able to put his weight on the scale. Otherwise it could have been fatal.”
Herygers is pleased that the competition jury has intervened by downgrading Sagan. “They have balls on their bodies. Do we have to wait for a crash every time? Van Aert is a flawless sprinter, try to continue that line. Decent. sprint, stay on your line. If there is no hole, there is no hole. “
The competition jury found that Van Aert’s behavior was also unacceptable. He was fined for his raised middle finger to Sagan. Herygers understands Van Aert’s gesture.
“I think that’s okay. He can express his frustration. We all know what happened in the Tour of Poland. If that happened again today, have we learned nothing from the past? That middle finger might just be a signal to say it was about it. “
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Van Aert was allowed to take his own chance today, but eventually had to settle for third place. With a little more support from the team, according to Herygers, there might have been more in it.
“I think it is a shame that not a few men took the sprint for him today. That would have worked wonders, then it might have been a different story. The way he sprinted today, he would have won on one leg. Even with a slow train. did it work.”
The battle for green seems to be over in the meantime. Does Bennett have another competitor? “Only the mountains. He still has to survive them. But he has a great team. They have the qualities there to safeguard the greenery.”
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