📸 A week in Algarve with Wout van Aert: Nail-biting in the hotseat, Visma 'tattoos,' and cleaning the toilet on the bus

What a week for Wout van Aert. He returned to the road after a short but intense winter of cyclo-cross, during which he won silver at the World Championships, among other achievements. In the Tour of the Algarve, his second race this year, the Belgian hoped to win for his team Visma | Lease a Bike. Despite the failure of that mission, he is not going home unhappy.

The week did not start well. Van Aert had hoped to sprint for the stage win in the first stage, but that went wrong after nearly the entire peloton took the wrong road in the final kilometer. "Laughable," he called it at the time. "The road at that roundabout should always be closed. Barriers, no confusion... This just should not be possible. I was wondering if there would even be a winner. Well done."

But luckily, that did not spoil the fun. In the second stage, the Belgian gave it his all for team leader Jonas Vingegaard, only to sprint to seventh place in his first real sprint opportunities over the next two days. The finishing touch was provided by his Danish team leader, who took the lead in the final time trial, where he won the day and overall victory. And Van Aert? He came in second, which confirmed that he was in good shape.

Read more below the photos!

After the Volta ao Algarve, the all-rounder posted a nice recap of his week in Portugal. It shows that he was not alone; his family had also traveled alone, which led to some beautiful pictures. It must have taken some getting used to racing for a few days in a row, as Van Aert's body also experienced. He had a beautiful Visma | Lease a Bike imprint on his thigh. Maybe it's a good idea to get it tattooed, Wout?

He may not have succeeded in winning the final stage, but before his leader stole his thunder, Van Aert could get a taste of what that feeling would be like. He could feel the tension of waiting for the last riders in the hot seat. Watching everyone try to beat your time must be quite a feeling until someone actually succeeds. But hey, at least it's your teammate...

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