(Reuters) – Wout van Aert stretched his arms out wide ready to celebrate victory in stage three of the Criterium du Dauphine on Tuesday but the Belgian cyclist was left feeling “really ashamed” after David Gaudu pipped him at the finish line.
“You have to watch the replay,” the Jumbo-Visma rider said. “I raised the arms a bit too early and I’m actually really ashamed to lose it like that, just a big disappointment to not finish off our work today, and being so close.
“I had it in my hands. I just had it … it’s even something when you see it with someone else you question how it’s possible – but now I understand the feeling.”
There was some consolation for Van Aert as he claimed the overall lead ahead of Wednesday’s 31.9km individual time trial from Montbrison to La Batie d’Urfe.
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
