>Van Aert briefly revealed himself to be a bundle of frustration—something entirely understandable given the circumstances. He had to admit, however, that a sense of guilt played a part as well; after all, Matthew Brennan had still been part of the breakaway group but was sacrificed to give Van Aert his chance.
>“Yes, of course [I feel guilty towards Brennan]. That’s what puts pressure on both of us. I think he feels the same pressure when I act as his lead-out man. And I think we handle that brilliantly. There have been some doubts during this Vuelta, I’d say, and questions from the outside about our team.”
>Van Aert had reacted quite angrily to that topic in another interview, too. “I don’t know where these questions about Brennan and me keep coming from,” he said then. Yet, ultimately, Van Aert wanted to end on a positive note.
>“But look, we’re standing here in the green jersey, we’ve won two stages, and we control every race whenever we want. So I think we should just be proud and keep going like this.”