Van Aert has a difficult return to racing in France: “Wout has come back down to earth”

Visma | Lease a Bike enjoyed a strong start on Sunday in the opening stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The team showed itself clearly in the finale, with Ben Tulett eventually taking sixth place in the stage results. Wout van Aert had a tougher start to the hard stage.

The peloton was served up a stage in France with plenty of climbing from the off, and that took a heavy toll on many riders, including Van Aert. The Belgian is racing for the first time since his glorious victory in Paris-Roubaix and had the expected teething problems. That also had something to do with a crash from his time-trial bike a week ago.

“I did not have a great feeling,” Van Aert said after the stage to Het Laatste Nieuws. “I tried to help the team a little, among other things by positioning Matteo (Jorgenson, red.), and after that I did not push on. I had hoped for a slightly better feeling, but it is not something I am worried about.”

Team director Maarten Wynants also was not worried, speaking to Het Nieuwsblad. “We knew in advance that this stage would normally be for the general classification riders and that it would be beyond Wout’s usual scope. Anyone who thought he could fight for the win here was very optimistic. Besides, Wout was quite active early in the stage. He jumped a few times. That made him breathe hard a bit on the first real climb. Afterwards he still sacrificed himself to get Jorgenson into position.”

Wynants is therefore not concerned about Van Aert’s form level heading towards the Tour de France. According to the team director, there is still plenty of time for the rider to improve. “Wout has come back down to earth. But in the meantime he has got the hard reality of a training camp in the legs and picked up the rhythm again. As far as I am concerned, he is where he needs to be. Let us not forget that the Tour is still a long way away. This race should allow him to take one more step towards top form.”

While stage victory in the opening stage went to Frenchman Alex Baudin - who was the only rider able to survive from the breakaway - Tulett sprinted to sixth place from the first group behind him. Just behind that came a group with the biggest favourites for the overall victory: Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro, Juan Ayuso and, for Visma | Lease a Bike, Matteo Jorgenson.

The American - who is returning after a broken collarbone - had expected more action on the Côte de Rousset in the finale than there ultimately was. “I expected a bigger battle for the general classification,” he said in his reaction on the team website. “On the final climb we as a team took good control in the peloton. In the closing kilometres it became hectic because of several attacks, but I expected that too. It was a good day to return to competition. I look back on today with a good feeling.”

Wynants added: “It was a very hard day. From the starting signal the road went uphill immediately and the pace was high. Today was expected to be mainly a day for the better climbers, and that is how it proved. As a team, we can look back on a good day.”

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]