Vuelta blunder as Van Aert is wrongly awarded the green jersey: "I saw on TV that it didn't make sense"

Following his third place in Saturday's time trial and his second place in Sunday's sprint, Van Aert had accumulated 58 points in the points classification. However, that’s seven points fewer than Kaden Groves. The Australian didn’t score any points in the time trial on Saturday, but on Sunday he earned 50 points at the finish and another 15 points in the intermediate sprint, bringing his total to 65 points—enough to lead the competition for the green jersey.

Somehow, this was overlooked by the Vuelta organizers, who awarded the green jersey to Van Aert instead of Groves. "I actually knew it wasn’t right, but they insisted on bringing me up to the podium," Van Aert laughed in an interview with VTM. "There are only a few stages categorized as true sprinter stages, so I knew it was 50 points for first place and 30 for second. I was pretty sure Groves was ahead of me, but they claimed to have calculated it better. When I came off the podium, I saw on TV that it wasn’t correct."

Van Aert isn’t just aiming for the red leader’s jersey; he’s also set his sights on the green points jersey. "The red jersey is great, but the points jersey is also a goal." Monday offers him a good chance to make gains in both classifications, with another sprint finish expected. This could give him the opportunity to rack up points and compete for bonus seconds.