The strongman of Jumbo has had such a festival that he will inevitably rekindle the debate in Belgium on his potential to win overall and try to become the first Belgian to win the Grande Boucle since Lucien van Impe in 1976.

For this, the 27-year-old Flemish, cut first for the classics, may one day have to change priorities or even team.

In the meantime, he has once again proven throughout this Tour de France that he is the most complete rider on the planet, excelling on all terrains.

Active every day, prancing at the top of the points classification, intended for sprinters, which he is sure to bring back to Paris, he also spent four days in yellow, won two stages, finished second in the prologue and is now also fifth in the classification of the polka dot jersey of the best climbers!

The yellow jersey, the Belgian Wout van Aert, celebrates his victory in the 4th stage of the Tour de France, July 5, 2022 between Dunkirk and Calais Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

Apart from the immense Eddy Merckx who had won everything in 1969, three years before the creation of the polka dot jersey, no one dominated the points and mountain classifications the same year on the Tour.

national holiday

"We can salute him because he makes cycling more beautiful", commented the Frenchman Romain Bardet after the sixth stage in Longwy where Van Aert delivered a huge number, yellow jersey on the back.

"WVA", also a triple cyclocross world champion, had already shown last year on the Tour that he could do everything by winning after flying over Mont Ventoux and winning a time before winning the stage. from the Champs-Elysées to the sprint.

He again fired all the woods on Thursday, Belgium's national holiday, trying to show off from kilometer zero, opening the road in the Aubisque, passing the unprecedented Col de Spandelles in the lead before starting the ascent of the final climb to Hautacam in the company of Daniel Martinez and Thibaut Pinot which he ended up picking up.

The green jersey, Belgian Wout van Aert, escaped with Frenchman Thibaut Pinot and Colombian Daniel Martinez, during the 18th stage of the Tour de France, July 21, 2022 between Lourdes and Hautacam Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP

But we hadn't seen anything yet.

When Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar came back to him, he took the lead of the trio, taking over from his teammate Sepp Kuss.

And restarted the machine for the umpteenth time to let go of the Slovenian double title holder, too alone, allowing Vingegaard to soar to victory, after a formidable team race from Jumbo-Visma.

Cutting his effort a little, van Aert was able to savor the last kilometer of the climb before crossing the line in third position in a howl of joy, fist clenched, as a model teammate.

The green jersey, the Belgian Wout Van Aert, is jubilant at the finish line on July 21, 2022 in Hautacam, after finishing 3rd in the 18th stage won by his teammate, the Danish yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard Marco BERTORELLO AFP

"Crazy Day"

"Our plan was to really look for the stage with Jonas. I told the team before the start: it's possible to do something all together because we are six very strong guys", he commented , he who is the real road captain of the Jumbo.

As for his own performance, he had a "crazy day", adding: "I know I can be really strong in the mountains when I really focus on that."

The Belgian Wout van Aert, during the 18th stage of the Tour de France, July 21, 2022 between Lourdes and Hautacam Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP

Its leader was obviously grateful.

"Wout was amazing, amazing," insisted the Dane.

"I don't think he has ambitions for the general classification of the Tour de France but if he does, we will share the leadership as I did with Primoz (Roglic), it's better to have two leaders in one team," he added.

The competition is also under the spell.

"When I saw him doing the train in the penultimate pass, I understood that he was in a very, very, very big day", reported Thibaut Pinot, in the front row to observe the phenomenon.

© 2022 AFP