The green sprinter's jersey of the Tour de France has been Wout Van Aert's dream since at least his first Grand Tour finish in 2020. This season, Jumbo-Visma has agreed to support that ambition, along with Primoš Roglic's bid for overall victory. Van Aert showed on Sunday in the opening stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné that he is on track for July.

The 27-year-old Van Aert, a six-time stage winner in the Tour de France, won three different types of stages last season: a breakaway on Mont Ventoux, a time trial on stage 20, and a group sprint on the Champs-Elysees.

The 2022 season opened with a win at Omloop-et-Nice-Blad, a points prize and stage win at Paris-Nice, and Van Aert focused on the classics, winning the E3 classic and finishing on the podium at Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In an interview after his Dauphiné stage win, he said he has been refining his sprinting over the past few weeks.

"I had a great spring season, but I wasn't always satisfied with my feeling in the sprints. There's no doubt that what I've been working on the last few weeks has paid off and it always feels good when it pays off right away," Van Aert said.

"Today was confirmation of the great buildup we've had the last few weeks. 'It's always hard to predict what will happen in a race after a period of preparation. In a stage like today, you can already ride in the best conditions. In a stage like today, I could already show good legs. [Quick-Step Alfavinir's Remi Cavagna attacked in the last 2km, so Van Aat had to sacrifice his last lead-out man, Christophe Laporte, on the 191.8km stage to Beauchastel. However, Jumbo-Visma burned matches with distance sprinters like Dylan Groenewegen (Bike Exchange-Jayco) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorias) on the second traverse of the Côte du Chambon de Babas with 36 km to go.

It was also a good sign for Van Aert that he left enough distance left in the climb to beat faster riders like Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) in a sprint.

"With today's profile, we knew it was going to be a hard final. A lot of teams were interested in dropping sprinters, but I was able to hang on. It was really good. I'm very comfortable on the climbs and these hard finals suit me. But in the sprints you have to beat guys like Hayter. Hayter has been in great form this season. It was hard to overtake him, but in the end I won, so I'm happy."

The rest of the Dauphiné was a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France for Jumbo Visma, and Van Aert promised to defend his race lead before supporting Roglic in a tough late stage next weekend.

"I am here with a strong team. I think the coming stages will suit me and I definitely want to defend if possible. I hope to pass the baton to Primoz on the weekend, but there are a lot of tough stages ahead."