Van Aert and Van Baarle on the attack in stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia
Before the start, the question was whether this stage would end in a bunch sprint or favour the breakaway. Team Visma | Lease a Bike had initially pinned their hopes on a sprint with Olav Kooij, but adapted their strategy mid-race when it became clear the attackers had the upper hand.
Van Aert and Van Baarle joined a large front group of 35 riders. Edoardo Affini was also part of the move but had to let go after an early effort. As the stage progressed, a group of eleven riders—including Van Baarle—broke away from the rest. In the peloton, GC contender Simon Yates had a trouble-free day.
“Everyone wanted to make the most of their last chance today”, said Van Aert. “We had to change our original plan, and I think we did that well. Dylan and I were in a good position on the climb and supported each other from there. The situation was actually quite promising for us—we were in the mix for the win. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t finish it off.”
“Everyone wanted to make the most of their last chance today”
Wout van Aert
Van Baarle echoed his Belgian teammate’s words. “We gave it everything today. Unfortunately, I had nothing left at the end. The plan was to control the stage and go for a sprint with Olav, but we had to respond to how the race unfolded. Wout deliberately left a gap when I accelerated. That’s how I got away, but to be honest, I’d have preferred it if Wout had been the one to open a gap. We gave it a real go, but it wasn’t to be. It was a really tough and fast day”, the Dutchman concluded.
Giro d’Italia
Stage 18
Result
Rankings
Result
1
Nico Denz
Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe
03:12:07
2
Mirco Maestri
Team Polti VisitMalta
+00:01:01
3
Edward Planckaert
Alpecin – Deceuninck
+00:01:01
11
Dylan van Baarle
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:01:01
15
Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:03:40
49
Simon Yates
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:13:51
50
Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:13:51
53
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:13:51
73
Wilco Kelderman
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:13:51
87
Bart Lemmen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:13:51
112
Edoardo Affini
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:13:51
Rankings
1
Isaac del Toro
UAE Team Emirates – XRG
68:56:32
2
Richard Carapaz
EF Education – EasyPost
+00:00:41
3
Simon Yates
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+00:00:51
34
Wilco Kelderman
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+01:22:25
41
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+01:34:12
52
Bart Lemmen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+01:40:00
81
Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+02:35:55
94
Dylan van Baarle
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+02:55:14
133
Edoardo Affini
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+04:10:16
149
Olav Kooij
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
+04:22:59
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Subjects
Cycling – World Tour men
Wout van Aert
Dylan van Baarle
1
Giro d’Italia
