Van Aert gets free role in Vuelta, Visma | Lease a Bike sees "more than five opportunities": "Kuss no top favorite"

Wout van Aert will have a free role in the Vuelta a España, as confirmed by team director Grischa Niermann in talks with Sporza. The Belgian rider of Visma | Lease a Bike is making his debut in the Vuelta and is fully focused on stage victories. This aligns well with the potential GC ambitions of other team members.

Visma | Lease a Bike is currently leading the Tour of Burgos with Sepp Kuss, and Cian Uijtdebroeks is also aiming to peak in the Vuelta. Niermann emphasized that Van Aert can play a supporting role for these two riders if they compete for top rankings, although this is not as strictly defined as, for example, with Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France.

"Wout is very eager to prove himself once more this year. His desire to win is very strong," said the German. "The races are coming in quick succession this summer for Wout, but that was discussed and planned. It was Wout's explicit wish to ride the Vuelta after the Tour. He wanted to try something different and is open to new challenges. However, due to his crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen, things turned out a bit differently, and he had to skip the Giro."

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Van Aert will have support riders and gets to commit to sprinting (and attacking)

Van Aert — who won bronze in the time trial at the Olympics but crashed in the road race — has been given a completely free role by Visma | Lease a Bike. "As a team, we will do everything we can to help him achieve a stage win in the Vuelta. He deserves it. We see plenty of opportunities for Wout to succeed, ideally more than five."

In the opening time trial, Van Aert will face competition from Joshua Tarling of INEOS Grenadiers, but then there will be several challenging stages that could end in a sprint from a reduced group. "He will have strong support riders for those stages. Wout can also win stages from a breakaway. He has already proven that in the Tour."

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Kuss and possibly Uijtdebroeks can count on Van Aert

If Kuss and Uijtdebroeks pursue GC ambitions, they will first have to rely on others. However, Van Aert will not hesitate to help if needed. "Sepp is the defending champion but not the top favorite to win this Vuelta. This means that Wout won't have to sacrifice himself in every mountain stage. In the Tour, there were only 2.5 favorites, and we had one of them with Jonas. In the Vuelta, there are six or seven teams that could win the GC. So in Spain, we won't have to control every mountain stage from kilometer zero, giving Wout a different role than in the Tour."