"If you have these guys pulling for you..." - Wout Van Aert finds his sprinting legs once again

Wout Van Aert had a very modest first days at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, suffering from a minor injury but not showing the level he had during the spring. The Belgian got his competitive edge back today on stage 4, but the chances of him winning the bunch sprint were cut by the fact that the breakaway survived.

A strong breakaway headlined the day, however behind, a few teams committed to the chase, and that convinced Team Visma | Lease a Bike to also join the group of riders at the head of the peloton. The intention was clear, since the Belgian hadn't been dropped on the climbs.

Visma did a lot of work in the peloton to try and bring it back, a gap that at the finish line was still of 4 seconds. But Van Aert could see the work of many of his teammates, including Matteo Jorgenson himself who was towards the front in the final kilometers.

He ended up winning the peloton sprint, but for 11th place. “Well, I felt good in the final and could do a good sprint. I think I won the sprint from the bunch, but a few guys stayed in front. So yeah, it's always unfortunate for us at least, but we raced for it, and I'm happy with it," Van Aert said in a post-race interview with CyclingPro.net.

Nevertheless its his best showing since returning to racing after his Paris-Roubaix victory, and a motivating sign towards the rest of the week. Tomorrow stage 5 provides another opportunity for the fast men, which Van Aert can use.

However, he was happy with the support he got today. “I mean the team is going really well. We didn't need to show that today again. I think yesterday was quite the example with me dropping out so early and then Ben [Tulett] having a flat and still winning that time trial; that's pretty insane".

These are the men that will join him soon at the Tour de France, something which for the team as a whole is a positive sign. “So yeah, if you have these guys pulling for you, you want to do your very best, and that's what I did, but we came up just short,” Van Aert concluded.