GettyWout van Aert
NOS Cycling•yesterday, 20:34•Modified today, 08:27
Wout van Aert did not break anything, but he did have a serious wound after his fall in the after the sixteenth stage of the Tour of Spain. This was reported by his team Visma-Lease a Bike. The Belgian hit a rock face and had to get off with injuries to his knee and arm.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance. There it turned out that Van Aert’s severe knee pain is caused by a deep wound. “That wound requires intensive care. Wout will travel back to Belgium to continue his recovery,” according to his team.
“It’s sad to see him leave the Vuelta like this,” team manager Grischa Niermann told NOS. “Luck is not on our side this season. It’s a shame for the team, but also very sour for Wout himself.”
Watch Van Aert’s crash here:
Van Aert drops out of Vuelta after hard fall against rock face
That’s right. Visma-Lease a Bike has had quite a bit of bad luck this season and Wout van Aert in particular. The Belgian crashed for the first time in early March. That was during the E3 Saxo Classic, where Van Aert fell at the foot of the Paterberg. That happened while he was battling with Mathieu van der Poel for the victory.
The Visma rider had some pain in his elbow and hip afterwards, but the damage was not too bad.
Van der Poel wins E3 Saxo Classic and triumphs in first duel with Van Aert
That was not the case when Van Aert was involved in another crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen at the end of March. Things went wrong on the descent to the Kanarieberg. The Belgian could not continue his way after the crash and that brought him to tears.
That wasn’t so strange. He broke his collarbone and several ribs. The spring was over and he couldn’t ride two main goals, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Van Aert breaks collarbone in hard fall in Dwars door Vlaanderen
He also had to skip the Giro d’Italia, where Van Aert would have liked to win multiple stages. In that grand tour, his teammate Wilco Kelderman could not start due to a broken collarbone and Robert Gesink, Christophe Laporte, Olav Kooij and Cian Uijtdebroeks also had to give up.
Just before the next big round, the Tour de France, there was bad luck again for the Dutch formation. Dylan van Baarle, Steven Kruiswijk and Sepp Kuss had to miss the Tour. Jonas Vingegaard, who had fallen badly in the Tour of the Basque Country, was fit in time. Van Aert could not win any stages in the biggest cycling race of the year after his injuries.
Third and fourth crash for Van Aert
In the last big tour of this year, Van Aert seemed to have completely ridden away his bad luck this year. The cyclist born in Herentals was strong, very strong. He managed to win three stages, had the green jersey firmly around his shoulders and was on course to win the mountain classification.
But it was not to be. A third crash, at the start of the sixteenth stage, was not fatal, but a fourth crash this cycling season put an end to his Vuelta.
“It turns out not to be Wout’s season,” said Niermann.
Vuelta live on NOS
The final stages of the Tour of Spain can be followed live at NOS via a stream on NOS.nl and in the app. Tomorrow, the seventeenth stage can be followed from 15:55 via this livestream.
