It had all looked so promising. Second in the tough opening stage of the Giro d'Italia despite recent illness wreaking havoc with his pre-race training, Wout van Aert had had high hopes of clinching the maglia rosa in Tirana on Saturday.
But it was not to be, as instead of taking pink, the Visma-Lease a Bike co-leader crossed the line in an anonymous 39th place, 34 seconds down on stage winner Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers). Overall, the Belgian star has slumped to eleventh, 32 seconds down on new race leader Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
