The signs early on were positive for Van Aert as he won the bunch sprint for 3rd on stage 1 as Team DSM-Firmenich duo Romain Bardet and Frank Van den Broek held off the peloton for a famous victory, with the former in his final ever
Tour de France. “It meant my return to the highest level,” Van Aert reflects of his stage 1 efforts in the documentary.
Sadly though, that near miss was a sign of things to come for Van Aert over the next three weeks. "I also quickly lose my confidence and that is frustrating," he confesses, not helped by a frustration with compatriot and sprint rival Jasper Philipsen. "I lost by half a wheel and had to keep the pedals still. Would I have won if I had not been hindered? Yes, of course."
Van Aert's struggles are quickly put into perspective however, when the Belgian superstar facetimes his son on a phone call home following a stage where he took a trip to the French tarmac. “Dad, are you going to win too?”, his son asks over the phone. “I don’t know right now,” Van Aert laughs. “Dad had slipped and hurt himself, but everything is fine.”