"The Tour is still a long way away" - Visma do not worry about Wout Van Aert's modest return to racing at Auvergne

The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes has presented a brutal route, one with a few opportunities for Wout Van Aert who returns to racing two months after his Paris-Roubaix victory. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider did not show his best form on the opening day, but there is no urgency for the Dutch team.

On the opening stage, with bandages from a small training crash, the Belgian was one of the first to lose contact with the peloton and to cross the finish line in Saint-Ismier.

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

He focused on supporting the team's overall ambitions however, led by Matteo Jorgenson but also with Ben Tulett and Jorgen Nordhagen as outsiders. The finished finished the stage strong with Bruno Armirail also present amongst the first in the results sheet.

It was not the case with Van Aert, but that was to be expected. “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," team DS Marteen Wynants said to Het Nieuwsblad.

The Tour begins in Barcelona in the space of just over a month, and ends in around seven weeks - giving plenty time for riders to build their best form, whilst being too strong too early on can be a bad sign towards the end of the Grand Boucle.

"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 (trying to get in the breakaway, ed.). That made him breathe hard a bit on the first real climb. Afterwards he still sacrificed himself to get Jorgenson into position.”

There will be hilly stages that could end in a sprint where the Belgian classics specialists can fight for his own result, but otherwise it's a week to build racing rhythm and support his leaders.

“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," Wynants concluded.