Tour stars Van Vleuten, Thomas, Philipsen, Pidcock take part in Dutch and Belgian crits
Image 1 of 10
(Image credit: Jumbo-Visma/Twitter)
Yves Lampaert, Tom Pidcock, and Wout van Aert line up in Roeselare(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Lampaert celebrating his criterium win(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Lampaert topped the podium in Roeselare(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Big crowds greeted the Tour de France stars in Herentals(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
The peloton races past in Herentals(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Jasper Philipsen tops the podium as Geraint Thomas takes third in Aalst(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Wout van Aert wins in Herentals(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Matthews follows the derny pacer in Putte(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Philipsen tops the Putte podium ahead of Matthews (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
The cycling calendar might have swiftly moved on following the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes, but the stars of the big July races are still enjoying themselves at the traditional criteriums that follow the Tour.
Elsewhere, the peloton has moved on to the Tour de Pologne and Vuelta a Burgos as the calendar points ahead to the Vuelta a España and World Championships. However, the likes of Wout van Aert, Marianne Vos, Annemiek van Vleuten, and Mathieu van der Poel have been racing at the Roosendaal criterium in the Netherlands.
Stars of the men's and women's Tours partnered up in a two-person time trial on Monday, with Jumbo-Visma's green jersey winners Van Aert and Vos taking a victory there to go with the five they racked up in July.
Dutch Trek-Segafredo duo Ellen van Dijk and Bauke Mollema took second place while Van der Poel and Tour winner Van Vleuten rounded out the podium at what would have been a lucrative day of not-so-serious racing.
Van Vleuten, who won the inaugural women's Tour by 3:48 after dominating the final two mountain stages, added to her hefty 2022 win list – albeit unofficially – after beating Vos and Tour white jersey winner Shirin van Anrooij.
In the men's criterium race it was Van Aert who came out on top a week after rolling down the Champs-Elysées in green alongside teammate and Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard.
The Belgian, who won in Calais, Lausanne, and Rocamador last month, beat stage 2 winner Fabio Jakobsen, and Van der Poel in the Roosendaal sprint.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
There'll be more criterium racing to come as the stars of the Tour cash in on appearances following their time in France. Indeed, Roosendaal isn't the first of the post-Tour crits, with Van Aert, Yves Lampaert, Tiesj Benoot, and L'Alpe d'Huez winner Tom Pidcock among those who took part in Roeselare last week.
Elsewhere, Jasper Philipsen has taken wins in Aalst and Putte, with Geraint Thomas and Michael Matthews also among the riders taking part in the series of criteriums.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
