Van Aert raises Tour de France concern despite Visma victory: 'I thought I would be at a better level'

Matteo Jorgenson delivered the fastest time in the 28.4km team time trial, giving the Dutch squad stage victory and moving himself to fourth overall. Behind the celebration, however, there was also concern for Wout van Aert, who was dropped after just 8km.

Van Aert had already said after the opening stage that he was not feeling at his best. Tuesday’s team time trial offered a clearer picture. When Visma lifted the pace on the first climb, the Belgian could not follow.

“It is mixed feelings,” Van Aert said afterwards to Sporza. “It is nice to stand on the podium with the team, but I do not feel like I was able to contribute much.”

There was no crash, mechanical issue or obvious misfortune behind his early exit from the group. Van Aert simply did not have the legs.

“On the first climb, it was immediately too fast for me,” he said. “There is not much you can hide in a team time trial.”

Visma’s head of performance Mathieu Heijboer admitted the team had expected Van Aert to go deeper into the stage. “It was earlier than we hoped,” Heijboer said. “The plan was to take our strongest riders over the final climb.”

That plan had to change quickly. Van Aert was dropped early, while Ben Tulett later lost contact after a rear wheel puncture on the main descent. Even so, Visma still finished strongly enough to beat Netcompany-Ineos by nine seconds.

For the Belgian, the contrast only underlined the strength of the teammates who had left him behind.

“When you are riding with guys like that, it can hurt,” he said. “If I cannot really do my part, and Ben has a puncture, and the team still sets the fastest time, that says a lot about how strong those riders are.”

Jorgenson was the rider who finished off the performance, climbing alone in the final kilometre to secure the stage win. The American now sits 15 seconds behind race leader Alex Baudin, who kept yellow after guiding EF Education-EasyPost to third on the day.

For Van Aert, the bigger question is what this performance says about his condition with the Tour de France approaching. He arrived at the race short of his best form, and the first three days have suggested there is still work to do.

“You do not really take this into account beforehand, but we have to stay calm and keep doing the right things,” Van Aert said. “It is not nice.”

Heijboer struck a similar tone, while also pointing to the longer view.

“It is a bit disappointing, we have to be honest about that,” he said. “But we are looking at the bigger picture. Wout is using this race to improve, and he will improve.”

Van Aert did not try to dress up his own assessment. He expected a difficult week, but he also expected to be further along than this.

“I knew it would be a hard race, but I thought I would be at a better level than I showed today,” he said. “Every day is a snapshot, and today was not a good one.”

Asked whether he can still reach top condition for the Tour de France in three weeks’ time, Van Aert was cautious.

“That is difficult to answer right now,” he said. “Today was a disappointing day for me. We will see how things develop. I am not planning to sit back and accept it.”