Wout van Aert may have been sporting his new 'Half man, half moped' socks of late but new footage recorded by a fan on the roadside at the Tour de France show even the Belgian rider has his limits.
The clip, below, shows the moment that Van Aert pulled over after a big turn on the front for Jumbo Visma team mate Jonas Vingegaard on stage 18 to Hautacam.
Van Aert had gone on the attack early on the stage and when he was caught on the final climb, about 5km from the finish, the front of the race was comprised of just him, Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
Though he had been off the front for so long, Van Aert went to the front of the group and did a huge turn for Vingegaard. As he did so, a gap appeared back to Pogačar. Van Aert persisted with his turned for another few hundred metres to ensure Pogačar was definitely dropped.
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He then swung over and Vingegaard was clear at the front alone; going on to take the stage victory and put another 1:04 into his nearest rival, Pogačar.
The fan's clip below shows just how shattered Van Aert was, almost coming to a standstill as he zigzagged all over the road. However, he soon recovered, before riding up the climb to 3rd place on the stage.
