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.
