'It is a bit disappointing, we are honest about that' – Worrying signs for the Tour de France as struggles continue for Wout van Aert

There are just 24 days until the Grand Départ of the Tour de France, but Wout van Aert isn't exactly showing the signs of a rider who is approaching their peak for the biggest race of the season.

In fact, it's been quite the opposite for the Belgian during the first three stages of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with his struggles continuing in Tuesday's team time trial.

His Visma-Lease a Bike team won the stage, with Matteo Jorgenson powering over the line, but Van Aert had barely contributed, having been the first rider to drop on his team just eight minutes into their almost 33-minute winning effort.

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"Mixed feelings. It's nice to stand on the podium with my teammates, but I don't feel like I was able to contribute much to my team," admitted Van Aet to Sporza after the stage.

"On the first climb, it was immediately too fast for me. Then there is little you can hide in a team time trial."

Usually, a stage in which Van Aert would play a major role as a top ITT rider, Visma couldn't hide their disappointment: "It was earlier than expected, of course," said Head of Performance, Mathieu Heijboer. "We had hoped we could take our big guys with us over the final climb."

Fresh off a block of altitude training in Sierra Nevada, Van Aert's first road race back since winning Paris-Roubaix took a hit before the first stage even started due to a crash in training, which saw him struggle early on stage 1 and then again yesterday.

As he's got older, Van Aert is not as prolific as he once was, but by his standards, these performances have been a shock to the system.

"I assumed it was going to be a tough week, but I thought I would be further along than what I showed today. Every day is a snapshot; today wasn't a good one," he said.

Can he make it back to top fitness in time for the Tour? "I find it difficult to answer that right now," he admitted. "Today was a disappointing day for me; we will see how things develop. I don't intend to give up."

On paper, stage 4's hilly route with a flat finale should have Van Aert written all over it, but he's not being ranked above Ineos' Dorian Godon, and it's still to be seen whether he survives the six short categorised climbs.

His team will be hoping to see signs of the old Van Aert, a 10-time stage winner at the Tour de France, before the racing in France is up, but stages 4 and 5 are his best chances before a trio of mountaintop finishes at the weekend.

"It is a bit disappointing, we are honest about that. But we are looking at it in the longer term. Wout is using this race to improve, and he is getting better," said Heijboer, with his colleague and DS Marten Wynants confident that they have enough time for Van Aert to rediscover his peak levels.

"I remain 100% confident that he will be fine. He isn't going to like this, that's for sure. Wout has never experienced anything like this before," Wynants told Het Nieuwsblad.

"He and we are going to have to deal with it. But Wout has enough experience. It's a matter of swallowing it and moving on. That is precisely the advantage of riding here and not in the Tour de Suisse. Now he still has time to work on his form."

It's almost unthinkable that Visma wouldn't select Van Aert for the Tour, but he has to show more in these next 24 days to ensure his place is confirmed. His next two days of racing in France could prove vital.

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