The Basque Country Grand Départ at the Tour de France hasn't been a disaster for Jumbo-Visma but the opening two stages haven't exactly gone to plan, either.
Sunday's second stage to San Sebástián concluded with sprinter Wout van Aert throwing his bidon to the ground after missing out on the chance to win for the second day in a row, this time just behind late escapee Victor Lafay (Cofidis).
The Belgian didn't speak to the media after the disappointing result, either. Cyclingnews was on the ground to witness Van Aert leaving the Jumbo-Visma team bus and departing for the team hotel in a car while his teammates remained on the bus. He had earlier thrown his bike as he arrived at his bus shortly after the stage.
Meanwhile, reigning Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard appeared in a far calmer mood despite losing another seven seconds to his maillot jaune rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on the 209km stage.
Pogačar was caught remarking on Van Aert's behaviour post-stage, saying his actions were "like a child".
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Sections of the Belgian media have been playing up a rift in the Jumbo-Visma camp, suggesting that the Dane hasn't worked enough for Van Aert, but Vingegaard had a different view when he emerged from the team bus over a kilometre away from the finish line on the Miramar Kalea.
"I think it's also not fair," Vingegaard said when asked about the fairness of the charges levelled against him. "I think I already did something for Wout. I could have been selfish and pulled with Pogačar, so in that case I was also kind of helping in that I didn't pull.
"For me, I only have to focus on the GC. Of course, we have different goals. I think we're all super disappointed, me as well, and we all wanted Wout to win today."
Vingegaard lies sixth overall heading into the first sprint stage of the race to Bayonne, 17 seconds down on race leader Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), and 11 down on Pogačar having shed three bonus seconds at the top of the Jaizkibel climb and another four at the finish.
Despite the additional time loss – on Saturday he said "The Tour will probably not be decided on four seconds" – Vingegaard said he actually lost less time to his great rival than he might have expected.
"For me personally it was OK," he said. "Of course, we would've liked to win with Wout so we're a bit disappointed about that. Maybe in some kind of way, I lost fewer seconds than we could have been thinking with the bonus seconds. So in that case, it was good. But of course, we came for the win today.
"The worst-case scenario would be that [Pogačar] takes 18 seconds and I take nothing. Now he took 12 and I took five, so that's way better, of course."
There were no complaints about his condition after the tricky first two days of racing, either.
"I'm really happy with how my condition is. I am where I want to be," he said. "I'm feeling good and in good shape."
Jumbo-Visma's directeur sportif corps also did the media rounds outside the team bus, the group spending longer talking through the stage than the team's star riders.
For veteran DS Frans Maassen, who has worked at the team for the better part of two decades, Vingegaard was right to focus on Pogačar when the Slovenian made his move on the Jaizkibel, though perhaps he could've done a touch more work.
"He focussed as much as possible on Pogačar, of course," Maassen told the awaiting scrum of Dutch and Belgian media.
"In hindsight, he could have done quite a bit but you don't count on Lafay attacking in the final kilometre. And it's not a Playstation game – Wout could also have caught Lafay but then he would have been beaten in the sprint by Pogačar, and we don't want that at all."
"It's easy to talk with hindsight but we should have done it differently," he added.
"You're so close to the win and then it's a shame that you don't take it. We saw a super team, though, and we have to hold on to that. It's on to the next day again."
