In the mixed zone of Villabrino, where Caden Groves handed him victory on stage 14 of the Vuelta a España, Wout Van Aert could only smile, despondent.

“There is a saying in Denmark, ‘The operation went well, but the patient died.’ Was that the case today?” the reporter asked.

Juan Art took the question in the spirit in which it was intended. 'That's a good question,' he said. 'I never asked it, but I am sure I will remember it.'

That was a succinct description of the afternoon for Van Art and Visma Lease-a-Bike. They correctly predicted that Van Aert would have enough climbing ability to survive the Category 1 climb of Puerto de Leitariegos in the finale, and they lined up accordingly. The men in yellow and black ran away from a strong breakaway group all day long.

“I know he's really strong on the climbs, so there was no risk,” assessed Cian Wittdebroeks as he crossed the finish. Visma's MVP was Roberto Gesink, who was racing for the last time in his long career. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]

“Mountain points are like free, so that's a good thing,” said Van Aert, who earned twice as many points as Marc Soler, who finished second in the mountains. He was less enthusiastic about going for more points by going into the break on the road to Cuis Negres on Sunday. 'I'm tired from last week's effort. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I think it will be one of those countdown days to rest day.”

By VanArt's calculations, stage 17 to Santander is his next chance to chase victory, at which point he may have already mathematically secured his points ranking. But all that came to Van Aert's mind on Saturday evening in Villabrino was a chance that had passed.

“It would have been better if I could have gone a little faster on the final climb, but as is normal on a day like today, I had to use everyone to revive a strong breakaway group. 'It's normal on a day like today,' he said. I was the only one who needed to be stronger.”

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