"They planned it so that Van Aert is between Affini and Kooij. But Van Aert was nowhere to be seen" - Thijs Zonneveld points out where Visma lost stage 4

Close, but no cigar for Visma | Lease a Bike in the fourth stage of Giro d'Italia. Olav Kooij may have been the fastest man in Lecce, but without a significant team support in the technical finish, he had to bow down before the perfect delivery of Team Picnic PostNL.

"What's really bad: he's missing one," Thijs Zonneveld said in his analysis for Eurosport, referring to a leadout men. Ideally the designated last man for Kooij - Wout Van Aert - who was nowhere to be seen in Lecce. Edoardo Affini did a massive job done bringing Kooij from the depths of peloton to the front in the key moment, but the 23-year-old needed one extra rider to deliver him all the way.

Whichever way you slice it, it's a disappointment for Visma | Lease a Bike who have hoped to have a stage win at this point. And ideally yellow jersey on Van Aert's shoulders too. "They actually planned it so that Van Aert is between Affini and Kooij. But Van Aert is simply not present in the final," concludes Zonneveld.

The analyst immediately looks for a reason that Van Aert couldn't do his job. "It most likely has something to do with either his illness or the fact that he finds it a lot harder to throw himself into the fray this year." The Belgian admitted to have been unable to prepare perfectly for the Giro d'Italia with a mild illness in the run-up to the Grande Partenza.

But there's also the battle inside of Van Aert's head that he needs to sort out on his own. So he can't really do much about it for now. "But they actually miss him at the end. Because when Affini has Van Aert and Kooij behind him, Van Aert can accelerate from Affini's wheel. Not now and that's a shame, because I think Kooij is intrinsically the fastest," Zonneveld concludes.