In the end,
Ben Tulett finished as Team Visma | Lease a Bike's best performer on the day, taking home a 9th placed finish. As mentioned though, it was Van Aert's performance and level that took the majority of the headlines for the team. "It is the first race of the season for Wout and he had to compete against guys who already have races under their belts," Van Dongen says of the Belgian's level. "That is less bad if you have done an altitude training camp. In the past we have already proven that we are immediately ready."
"You also have to remember: it is a race with 2,600 meters of altitude in a very short time, because the first part is relatively flat," Van Dongen continues, insisting that whilst the result was admittedly far from what had been expected, it shouldn't all be doom and gloom for Van Aert afterwards. "I have also seen good things from Wout."
"When he started riding in front in support of Tulett, he reduced Kwiatkowski and McNulty's lead from 58 seconds to about twenty. If you're bad, you can't do that," concludes Van Dongen. "It's hard to compare this Wout with the Wout from last year around this time, but I don't think they're that far apart. Although we also know that there's still room for a few percent. But don't worry."