A special kind of barter: After the turbulent eleventh stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday, Belgian cycling star Wout van Aert gave a fan an unexpected treat out of necessity.
As the 27-year-old Jumbo-Visma pro was on the descent towards his team bus after the mountain finish on the 2404 metre high Col du Granon, the eight-time Tour stage winner noticed a loss of air in his rear tyre. Immediately after stopping, van Aert received help from an amateur cyclist standing on the road, who gave the points leader his air pump.
"I swapped my green podium jersey for "life-saving" air with an unknown fan. Today was a good day," tweeted van Aert, adding a broadly grinning smiley face with sunglasses to the tweet. Pictures from other fans on Twitter document the unusual swap. Previously, van Aert had long dominated the demanding Alpine stage as a breakaway rider. In the end, van Aert's Danish team-mate Jonas Vingegaard secured the stage win and the yellow jersey. However, green is likely to remain the colour of the day, at least for the helpful fan.
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