Rounding out the opening weekend of the Tour de France with second and fifth places might sound like a dream to most riders in the professional peloton, but stage 2 and stage 3 of this year's race have been frustration-filled experiences for Wout van Aert and Jumbo-Visma.
The Dutch team, aspiring to win the race once again with Jonas Vingegaard as Van Aert seeks out stage wins, have been forced to settle for a pair of near-misses in San Sébastián and Bayonne, with the dissatisfaction coming to the surface on Sunday afternoon.
Talk of an intra-team rift and criticism of Vingegaard for a perceived lack of help had arisen in the headlines of the Belgian press on Sunday evening, with Van Aert's angered reaction to missing out to Victor Lafay seemingly doing little to show otherwise.
The Belgian star had thrown his bidon to the floor after losing stage 2 before throwing his bike aside upon reaching the team bus and later leaving the stage alone in a team car. However, on Monday morning, the team downplayed any talk of tension among the riders.
Speaking on Monday morning, Jumbo-Visma directeur sportif Arthur Van Dongen told Cyclingnews that there were "no hard feelings" among the riders, saying that any talk of tension between the team's star riders was wide off the mark.
"There are no hard feelings in the rider's group," Van Dongen said in Amorebieta-Etxano ahead of stage 3. "Some press like to bring it, but it's not the case. Yesterday Wout was disappointed – not in his teammates but just in missing the stage win. He was feeling that he was ready for it, especially after two hard stages here in the Basque Country."
Van Dongen also echoed what race leader Adam Yates had said about the run-in – that a climber working in the lead-out on a flat finish made little sense. He said that his team had tried to chase with multiple riders in any case.
"I have respect for the Belgian press, but we are an international team. We also think it makes no sense that Jonas can make a difference in the last kilometre because it was slightly downhill," Van Dongen said.
"I also read from Adam Yates that he was saying he tried to do a lead out for Pogačar, but at 58kg, it's not possible. It's the same for Jonas. It's nice in theory, but in practice, it's totally different.
"You saw that we tried to take the initiative and control with Wilco, with Tiesj, to help as much as possible. There are no hard feelings in the team."
Van Dongen also added that any outside talk about the team in the press had no effect on the work they're doing this month and no bearing on their goals at the race.
"We are prepared for that, eh? That's also the Tour de France," he said. "You'll see a lot of press here who we didn't see at any race. It's the Tour de France, and that means we let it go.
"We know what the riders say around the table and on the bus, and that's most important for us. We are here to win the Tour, to win stages – that's our goal and that we can influence."
For his part, Van Aert largely echoed Van Dongen's points when speaking to the assembled Belgian media at sign-on before stage 3. He said that he left early because he "needed some time to process the disappointment", also noting that any outside criticism of Vingegaard was unjustified.
"Of course, we discussed with the team what happened," Van Aert said. "We always want to win, and if we can't, then we look at what we could've done better. It wasn't an easy situation in the final, either.
"[Jonas] made sure that I had the chance to go for the win. If he co-operated with Pogačar on the Jaizkibel – and we were far behind – then I had no chance of victory. He could have put a lot of GC contenders behind him there.
"If you see how it turned out in the end, then maybe Jonas could have done more, but that's also hindsight. It's racing, not a Playstation, so the criticism of him is unjustified."
Van Aert would go on to sprint to fifth place later in the day as the race hit France for the first time. He was squeezed out between stage winner Jasper Philipsen and the barriers but – outwardly, at least – wasn't as close to as disappointed as he was 24 hours earlier.
"For sure, yesterday we were disappointed because we were really close to the victory, and today again," Van Dongen said after stage 3. "But we know how it works in the Tour. It's still a long way, and we're still on track with our main goals."
