Wout van Aert dropped after eight kilometres in team time trial, raising Tour de France concerns

A brief appearance in the team effort

Wout van Aert's participation in the stage three team time trial of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was cut short on Tuesday. The Belgian rider, normally a key engine in the Visma-Lease a Bike discipline, was dropped after just eight of the 28 kilometres. The team went on to win the stage, with Matteo Jorgenson taking the best time, but Van Aert crossed the line 5 minutes and 12 seconds later, a gap that underscored his personal struggle.

I am here with mixed feelings. It's nice to be on the podium with my teammates, but I don't feel I contributed much.

A pattern of poor form

The time trial marked the third consecutive day of underperformance for the recent Paris-Roubaix winner. He was quickly dropped during the first two road stages and could not hold the pace on the very first climb of the time trial, a four-kilometre ascent at a 5 to 6 percent gradient. Team director Maarten Wynants had expected Van Aert to be one of the team's pillars on the day, but instead he took only short turns on the front before pulling off.

We shouldn't be silly. We expected more from Wout today. He did too. A good Van Aert normally does long turns; now he did short ones. He came to the front and went straight off again. That tells you enough.

Rider and team reaction

Van Aert described his condition as worse than anticipated. He acknowledged he knew the week would be difficult but believed he would be further along in his preparation. The team staff, while surprised, stopped short of panic. Wynants called the situation "certainly not a catastrophe" but noted there is still a lot of work to do. The contrast with Van Aert's dominant Roubaix victory less than two months ago makes the drop in performance particularly stark.

I assumed this would be a tough week, but I thought I would be further along than what I showed. I didn't expect this.

Tour de France countdown

The Tour de France starts on 4 July in Barcelona, leaving less than four weeks for Van Aert to find his best legs. His current position of 136th overall, more than 39 minutes down on the race leader, is irrelevant for a rider of his class, but the inability to sustain a high pace in a discipline that usually suits him is a worrying signal. The coming weeks will determine whether he can be at full strength for the Grand Départ.