‘Sad’ – Wout van Aert hits out at Nils Eekhoff for unexpected points move on Stage 16 of the Tour de France

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) has said with a smile that it was “sad” that Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM) surged ahead of him to pick up full points during the intermediate sprint on Stage 16 of the Tour de France.

Van Aert started the day on a near-insurmountable tally of 378 in the green jersey points classification with his nearest challenger Tadej Pogacar on 182.

However the Belgian was peeved when Eekhoff, who started the day on zero points, kicked clear near the line of the only intermediate sprint of the stage at Lavelanet.

“Everyone has the right to sprint,” Van Aert said after the finish about the bizarre moment.

“I did tell Nils that I would have appreciated it if he had said beforehand that he wanted to sprint. Then we could really do that.

The move from Eekhoff drew surprise from Eurosport’s Rob Hatch and Dan Lloyd on commentary during the race, with Lloyd saying he thought it was a joke when he saw the DSM rider surge clear.

“And it is Van Aert at the front here,” said Hatch as he set the scene as the riders approached the line.

“He takes a brief glimpse down and I shouldn’t see anybody who wants to challenge him too much.

“Although Eekhoff will give him a little bit of competition,” finished Hatch as the DSM rider set about breaching the line.

“I didn’t expect Eekhoff to continue on – I thought it was a bit of a joke,” interjected a bemused Lloyd.

“So did I,” concurred Hatch, adding: “He’s picked up 20 points.”

The 31-year-old broke away from the remains of a 29-man breakaway ahead of the final climb of the day, the Mur de Peguere, and as he crossed the line he pointed to the sky in memory of his late brother Pierrick, who was killed at 19 years old when hit by a drunk driver while out running.

“I had one dream and that was to get the win for my brother, who died when I turned professional,” said Houle after the race.

“Today it’s for him. I worked so hard for 10 years and today I got my win for him. It’s incredible, I don’t know what to say, I’m so happy.”

Stage 17 represents the first of back-to-back summit finishes in the Pyrenees where two-time Tour winner Pogacar will once again look to make inroads on Vingegaard.

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