Van Aert points to 'different schedule' for Tour de France with moderate green ambitions, Laporte harbors no hope

Like three musketeers, they were paraded Thursday at the Palacio Euskalduna in front of the attending press: Jonas Vingegaard, Christophe Laporte, and Wout van Aert. The certainty of their answers and expressions radiated from the Jumbo-Visma trio, as noted by IDLProCycling.com among others.

Now, Van Aert is never one to shy away from a good answer. Just like his great rival Mathieu van der Poel ("it will be on the limit for me"), he genuinely responds to the question of whether he can handle stage one around Bilbao. "I really like this start. The route is difficult and hard to predict. It might be too short for the real climbers, while it could be too long and steep for me. It will be tricky to get over it, but you never know. In any case, I'm going to try," was his response.

In the lead-up to the Tour, the Belgian has already mentioned several times that it will be difficult to replicate his performances from last year, but how is his form exactly? "I won the points classification in Switzerland, but maybe I expected a bit more. The Belgian National Championship went really well, so I think I'm hitting form at the right moment. The year hasn't been easy so far, often coming up just short. I want to turn that around in the coming weeks."

Van Aert also has an eye on the World Championships but won't hold back

When Van Aert speaks of the coming weeks, he is not only referring to the Tour de France: the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow are scheduled for early August, around the time he will likely have become a father for the second time. "Maybe you start with a slightly different mindset anyway, because you have to maintain focus for the World Championships. However, if there's one race where you can't hold back, it's the Tour. You can't see this race as a preparation race; it's the biggest race in the world. I've achieved success here and I know how amazing it feels, so I'm going to try it again from the start this year," said the winner of the green jersey in the 2022 Tour.

"I'm in a different position now than last year. Back then, the plan was to collect as many points as possible, but now we're going for stage wins," he explains his ambitions. "Green is not a real goal, partly because the schedule looks very different compared to last year, for example. You can still pick up a lot of points in the last four days, so it could still be an option at that point. However, I see Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen as the big favorites; they handle the climbs very well."

Van Aert is also there to support team leader Jonas Vingegaard as best as possible at times. "We know how to win the Tour, so we can rely on our own strength. Last year was the first time we defended the yellow jersey, and I think that will help us at certain moments this year."

Laporte brief but to the point: "I'm here for the team"

Lead-out rider and French hope Christophe Laporte also joined the press conference, but having to answer in English seemed to limit his contribution. He was succinct when it came to his personal ambitions. "The green jersey is not a goal for the team, so it's not a goal for me either," was his response when a French journalist cautiously asked about his objectives.

"I'm here for the team," Laporte summarized. "I'll help Jonas and Wout as best as I can. Personally, I don't really have any ambitions. Maybe I can target one stage, but that's not why I'm here. I want to help the team win the Tour, that's the goal."