The teasing had already set the tone: Netflix is not shying away from drama with season 2 of its series on the Tour de France. There is no shortage of punchlines, nor of controversies. And the runners who want to keep the cameras and microphones of the American streaming giant away appear from the very first episode.
But this is not the case for Wout van Aert who, despite his enormous anger after letting victory slip away on the second stage, let a camera enter the bus of his Jumbo-Visma team while he shouted his frustration . Remember: Adam and Simon Yates escaped at the end of the first stage and Tadej Pogacar’s lieutenant took the yellow jersey in Bilbao. The team of Vingegaard and Van Aert wanted to take their revenge the next day, in San Sebastian. And while everything seemed under control for the Belgian, Victor Lafay managed the “kilometer shot” to avoid the sprint in small groups. Wout van Aert failed in second place, while Jonas Vingegaard refused to help him plug the gap on the Frenchman in the final meters.
Facing the media, the Belgian and his sports directors put on a good show, making it clear that there was no internal tension. This is confirmed a year later with the broadcast of the Netflix documentary since we can see Vingegaard joining Van Aert in his team bus just after the stage, and directly apologizing: “I should have followed the attack de Lafay, I’m sorry.” And the Belgian replied: “I’m just angry to come so close but I have no problem with the way we raced. Shit, two days in a row…”
Later, in the interview in front of the Netflix cameras, Vingegaard explained that he regretted his end of the race: “I have the feeling that I could have done something to help him. If I had to do it again, I would do it differently.”
If Jonas Vingegaard won his second Tour de France three weeks later, Wout van Aert left without the slightest victory on the evening of the 17th stage to join his wife, who was about to give birth to their second child.
Tour de France: Jonas Vingegaard will have to explain to Wout van Aert why he did not ride
