Wout Van Aert, who helped Jumbo Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard win the overall with a points jersey and three stage wins at last year's Tour de France, is downplaying the prospect of replicating his accomplishments.

The Belgian is also disappointed with how his relationship with Vingegaard was portrayed in the recently released Netflix documentary "Tour de France: Unchained."

"I'm someone who wants to believe that there are few limits, but when it comes to last year's Tour, it shouldn't be an ambition to go further," Van Aat said in an interview with Sporza. That Tour was exceptional. I understand that, and the team understands that."

Van Aert reiterated his earlier assurances that he will not be targeting the green jersey from the start of the 2023 Tour de France." He added: "I'm happy to win the green jersey and it's important to me, but the best thing in this sport is to be the first to cross the finish line. Sometimes the points prize gets in the way of a stage win."

However, Van Aat insisted that his personal ambitions are compatible with defending his Vingegaard title. The Belgian has won a stage in each of the four times he has competed in the Tour, and has finished on the overall podium each time.

"People have been asking me for years if it can be compatible. All I can say is, look at the past races," VanArt said, downplaying the obvious tension with Vingegaard documented in the Netflix series.

"It's very disturbing that a story that never happened was put on the documentary. To me, the series focuses on the uproar," he said. [Jonas and I are best friends. It focuses on the moments when it's hard to make the right choices, but there are also a lot of moments where we supported each other and worked together. It's a shame that that was removed."

Van Aert returned to racing in the Tour de Suisse after two months of training. The Belgian finished third in Sunday's opening time trial, but said afterward that he still has some improvements to make for July.

In the time trial in Einsiedeln, he was 10 seconds behind first stage winner Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ). This 12.7 km race was his first since Paris-Roubaix, during which he had training camps in the Sierra Nevada and Swiss Alps.

In Switzerland, Van Aert said the wind affected his run on Sunday, noting that he was still not at full fitness after returning from high altitude.

"When you come back from training camp, there are always two things that happen. But to win you need to be a little bit better," he told Het Nieuwsblad after the first stage.

"It all worked itself out and we were close to the stronger time trialists. To beat those athletes you have to do your best, and that's what I did.

"Maybe I started a little too fast, but I had a good time trial. I wanted to leave something for the end of the race. The wind was a bit weaker too. There was still a lot to gain in the second part, but I couldn't accelerate as much as I wanted to. I think Kühn made the difference in the last part of the race."

Van Aert's start is promising, and he will look to add to his spring win at Strada Bianche later this week to complete his preparations for the Tour de France.

Jumbo-Visma sport director Marc Rief said Van Aert "can only get better" from here, while adding that the first race back from working at altitude is always unpredictable.

"We have to be happy with third place," he said. It's a good start for Wout. It's a good start for Wout.

"I just came back from training at altitude. We have already seen in the Giro that these first [race] efforts are always difficult. He said, "I've been warming up for the Tour de France in 2019, 2020, and 2022 at the Criterium du Dauphiné, and I'm looking forward to the Tour de France in 2022.

He has five stage wins and three points jerseys in the Dauphiné and said he expects more of the same this week.

"I knew I wanted to ride differently for the Tour," he told Het Laatste Nieuws. 'I've run the Dauphiné a couple of times. I've won a couple of stages in the Dauphiné, and I've won the green jersey." [The Tour de Suisse is a race I haven't won yet. I want to try it at least once. There are three serious mountain stages where other riders, such as Wilco Kelderman, will be competing. There are other riders, such as Wilco Kelderman.