'Today I am the loser' — Wout van Aert rues celebrating early at Critérium du Dauphiné

Belgian took his arms off his bars and was pipped to the line by David Gaudu on stage three of the race

wout van aert
(Image credit: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

It was so close to being perfect. Wout van Aert had briefly dropped to the back of the bunch on the final climb of stage three of the Critérium du Dauphiné, but was paced back to the front by Jonas Vingegaard, as Primož Roglič slowed things up in front. Perfect teamwork.

With the Belgian back at the front of the race with a kilometre to go, it would surely be his victory, clearly the fastest man in the lead group. However, the Jumbo-Visma rider took his hands off his bars to celebrate, convinced that in passing Victory Lafay (Cofidis) he had completed his mission. He did not see David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).

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Adam Becket
News editor

Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.