Wout van Aert endured a tough return to competition as he took on the opening stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Sunday, pinning on a race number for the first time since his monumental victory at Paris-Roubaix in April.
The Belgian finished 24 minutes down on stage 1, a tough and selective route in which he was never likely to challenge for the win, but might have been expected not to finish quite so far down.
"Unfortunately, I was not feeling great immediately," Van Aert said to Sporza and ProCyclingnet at the stage 2 start.
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"I knew anyway that it would be too tough for me, but of course I wasn't feeling my best either. So I chose not to push and to finish in a fairly conservative way.
"I wasn't terribly bad. It was my own choice not to push myself too hard. I hope to feel better today [Monday], and if not, I just need to stay calm."
Van Aert's build-up to the race was complicated by a recent crash in training, which has seen him line up at the race formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné with bandages on his right arm and leg.
"It was not a nice crash - I crashed on the TT bike and lost the handlebars in big pothole.
"It was not a soft landing, but I'm ok, and good enough to do this race. Otherwise I would not start here."
A gentler route on stage 2 would represent an opportunity for a fully-fit Van Aert. However, doubts over who's going to control the race it remains to be seen whether he'll be in the thick of the action.
In any case, Van Aert does not seem too worried about his lack of form on the opening day, with the plan to use the race as a step towards the Tour de France in a busy summer, with a second Grand Tour to follow at the Vuelta ahead of the World Championships.
"It's always an important week, you can really progress a lot from a week like this when you have the right form coming in," Van Aert said. "That's why we're here, to take that step forward."
