Wout van Aert's dream of an immediate return to the leader's red jersey in the Vuelta a España on his return to the race failed to materialize on Saturday despite the Belgian putting in a serious effort on the technically demanding time trial course through Monaco.
Two years ago on the opening TT in Lisbon, his last participation in the Vuelta, Van Aert fell three seconds short of winner Brandon McNulty. This time he had to settle for eighth, nine seconds back, behind McNulty's team leader at UAE, top Vuelta favourite Tadej Pogačar.
On a course held over roads used far more frequently in the Monaco Formula 1 circuit, just like in motor racing, given the very technical terrain, split-second decisions made all the difference.
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Van Aert had prepared so thoroughly for the time trial that he had even designed a simulation of the course to train on back home in Belgium, but it still wasn't enough to enable the Visma-Lease a Bike winner to add a Vuelta time trial victory to the one he took in the Tour de France back in 2022.
"I am simply satisfied with my time trial, and I have to be. I gave it my all, but I know I lost time in the corners," Van Aert told journalists afterwards, in comments reported by Sporza.
"I took slightly fewer risks there, but that was my own choice. My legs felt good, so as I said, I am satisfied with this."
Before the race, Van Aert had criticised the course for being overly technical in parts, and he doubled down on those comments afterwards. However, he emphasised that this was no excuse for losing.
"The surroundings were very unique; it was special to be able to drive here on those closed roads and the F1 circuit. I enjoyed that.
"But at certain points it was too technical and slightly on the limit. However, that's not my excuse [for losing.]"
Van Aert's time loss was not so narrow that it could be put down fully to his extra caution. Already four seconds off the pace at the mid-time check, he ended up even further back by the finish.
"We can be reasonably satisfied," Visma-Lease a Bike team coach told Het Laatse Nieuws. "We went for the win, but that didn't happen, so naturally we aren't very happy. Wout said he felt very good and could hardly believe that he lost so much time on the final part."
Both Heijboer and Van Aert coincided, however, that it could definitely be possible for the Belgian to take the leader's jersey on stage 2. A long, rolling grind to Manosque, 209 kilometres with a bit of an uphill kick at the end means Van Aert could well be in his element should he want to go for time bonuses - although other very fast all-rounders like Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) could well be in contention on that kind of terrain, too.
"I certainly wanted to finish within that margin," Van Aert added, with just nine seconds now separating himself and Pogačar - and who bounced back in the 2024 Vuelta to take the lead on stage 2 via time bonuses, too," he said afterwards.
"Of course, I started today wanting to fight for the win, but being close is also satisfying."
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