A time trial that exposed his current shortcomings<\/p>\n
The 28.4-kilometer team trial seemed like a good opportunity for Van Aert to regain confidence. However, when Visma-Lease a Bike increased the pace on the first climb of the course, the Belgian was unable to keep up with his teammates.<\/p>\n
After the stage, he openly acknowledged his problems in statements to Sporza: \u201cI have mixed feelings. It\u2019s nice to be on the podium with my teammates, but I don\u2019t feel like I was able to contribute much to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were no mechanical failures, falls, or any incidents that justified his loss of contact. He simply did not have the legs necessary to keep up with the riders leading the Dutch formation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the first climb, it was immediately too fast for me. In a team time trial, there\u2019s very little you can hide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation surprised even within Visma-Lease a Bike. Mathieu Heijboer, the team\u2019s performance manager, admitted that the initial plan was very different.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happened sooner than we expected. We were confident we could take our strong men to the last climb.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The contrast with his teammates increases concern<\/p>\n
The situation became even more striking because, despite losing Van Aert very early and later suffering a flat tire from Ben Tulett, Visma-Lease a Bike ended up winning the stage with a nine-second advantage over Netcompany-INEOS.<\/p>\n
For Van Aert himself, that result further highlighted the level of the teammates who were able to stay at the front.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you ride with guys like that, it can hurt. If you see that I haven\u2019t really been able to do my part, that Ben has a flat, and yet we still achieve the best time, that says a lot about how strong those guys are.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Matteo Jorgenson finished the team\u2019s performance to move closer to the lead in the race, the eyes inevitably turned towards the Belgian and his progress towards the Tour de France.<\/p>\n
Van Aert had already acknowledged before starting the French test that he was behind his best values. Three days later, the doubts have not disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t count on something like this in advance, but we have to stay calm and keep doing the right things. It\u2019s not pleasant.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team is trying to convey calmness and reminds that the race is part of their preparation process. Heijboer insisted that the main goal remains to arrive at the Tour in the best possible condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit disappointing, we have to be honest. But we are looking at the bigger picture. Wout is using this race to improve and he will improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most significant part of his statements came when evaluating his own performance. The Paris-Roubaix winner acknowledged that he was already expecting a complicated week, but not to this extent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was going to be a tough week, but I thought I would be at a better level than I have shown today. Each day is a snapshot of the moment, and today\u2019s has not been good.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A reflection that is especially relevant considering that the Grand D\u00e9part of the Tour de France in Barcelona is now less than four weeks away.<\/p>\n
When directly asked if he can still reach his best version for the French round, Van Aert avoided sending optimistic messages.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it difficult to answer that right now. Today has been a disappointing day for me. We\u2019ll see how everything evolves. I have no intention of sitting back and accepting it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The upcoming stages of the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes will therefore be an important test to measure whether the Belgian is simply going through a normal phase of building form or if there is indeed a reason for concern regarding one of the major objectives of his season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The victory of Visma-Lease a Bike in the team time trial of the third stage of the Tour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-632214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}