Exterior the Visma-Lease a Bike bus in Arnuero on Wednesday afternoon, directeur sportif Grischa Niermann was placing phrases on the most recent setback in Wout van Aert’s star-crossed 2024 season. “‘The Tour waits for nobody’ is the saying, however apparently neither does the Vuelta,” Niermann stated resignedly.
And neither, in fact, does the UCI Street World Championships. Van Aert crashed out of the Vuelta a España on the descent of Collada Llomena Tuesday afternoon, however even earlier than he had been taken to hospital for evaluation, ideas had turned as to if he might probably get well in time for the Worlds street race in Zurich on September 29.
The state of affairs was no clearer on Wednesday morning, even when preliminary scans confirmed that Van Aert had sustained no fractures within the crash. He was as a result of fly house to Belgium for additional evaluation in Herentals, in the identical hospital the place he underwent surgical procedure in March on the damaged collarbone that ended his Classics marketing campaign.
“He needed to spend the evening in hospital,” Niermann defined. “Thankfully, for now, we predict that nothing is damaged. He had huge wounds on his knee that wanted lots of consideration, and now he is ready to journey again to Belgium for additional examination.
“He has no fractures, however he has deep wounds, particularly on the knee, and that required stitches. As I perceive from the docs, the excellent news is there aren’t any fractures, but it surely’s nonetheless an actual damage.”
Niermann was reluctant to be drawn on Van Aert’s prospects of returning to competitors in time to race for Belgium on the European Championships and Worlds later this month. The one certainty at this level is that his rider was clearly in no state to finish the Vuelta after he sustained a deep reduce that left him unable to bend his proper knee.
“We don’t know but. It needs to be seen,” Niermann stated. “I have never seen him, I’ve solely talked to him. However for now, it does not appear to be he’ll be on the bike tomorrow.”
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Comeback
Van Aert has been right here earlier than, however that does not make the journey again any simpler. In March, he endured the hardship of lacking out on participation on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix after he fractured his sternum, ribs and collarbone within the mass crash that marred Dwars door Vlaanderen.
The pathos of that second was underscored by Van Aert’s sobs as he sat on the roadside, and it was exhausting to shake off the sense that the ache of a damaged collarbone was far simpler to bear than the agony of lacking the Ronde after devoting the earlier six months of his life to that sooner or later.
Though he managed to thrash himself into adequate form to journey the Tour de France after which declare a bronze medal within the time trial on the Paris 2024 Olympics, it was solely on this Vuelta that he actually started to appear to be the Van Aert of outdated.
Throughout two and a half weeks in Spain, Van Aert picked off a hat-trick of stage wins throughout quite a lot of terrains, and he was main each the factors and king of the mountains classifications. However greater than the victories and the jerseys, it was the fashion that stood out. After labouring for many of the yr – and, certainly, for a lot of final season too – Van Aert was driving with a freedom and facility unseen since his exceptional, all-action show on the 2022 Tour de France.
However simply as he gave the impression to be himself once more, Van Aert was struck down as soon as extra by misfortune, a doggedly acquainted companion. The headline in Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday morning stated all of it: “How a lot can a rider’s head take?”
“For now, in fact, he is actually down,” Niermann stated. “He feels actually sorry for himself that he has to go away the race. He had huge objectives. He wished to win the inexperienced jersey and the mountains jersey, and we wished to win not less than one other stage with him. And, in fact, there are objectives for him after this Vuelta, with the European Championships and with the Worlds. It’s like this. I do know Wout, I do know he’ll come again even stronger – however for now, he is not in the most effective place.”
Vuelta crash
Van Aert’s crash on stage 16 got here after he had led the break over the summit of the climb of Collada Llomena. He was following Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-Alula) on the descent when the German’s wheels slipped from below him on a slippery nook. In trying to keep away from Engelhardt, Van Aert crashed himself, injuring his knee within the course of.
The descent of Collada Llomena already had a sure notoriety after crimson jersey Odd Christian Eiking crashed there when the Vuelta got here this fashion in 2021, however Niermann felt there was no blame to be apportioned both to the route or to Engelhardt.
“Apparently, it occurred in the identical place the place they crashed in 2021,” Niermann stated. “I’ve to confess it is a very, very harmful descent, however particularly the half earlier than the crash occurred.
“On the street the place the crash truly occurred, the street had already dried up, so it was a traditional street. In fact, it was a technical descent, but it surely’s actually a pity on this case, I do not assume you may blame anybody.
“The man in entrance of Wout crashed and slid out. Wout tried to keep away from it after which he hit the wall on the aspect of the street. It’s extremely unlucky. Technical descents additionally belong in biking, and the actually harmful half was already behind them at that time.”
In Van Aert’s absence, Jay Vine (UAE Staff Emirates) has inherited the mountains jersey whereas Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Fenix) leads the factors classification. For Visma, the primary focus of the Vuelta’s closing days might be making an attempt to maneuver Sepp Kuss, presently twelfth at 6:25, additional up the standings.
This week final yr, Kuss was within the technique of successful the Vuelta as Jumbo-Visma crammed the rostrum and claimed a clear sweep of Grand Tour victories. Their 2024 marketing campaign, against this, has been punctuated by unwell fortune, most notably the crashes suffered by Van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard.
Niermann might solely smile wryly when requested concerning the spate of dangerous luck visited upon his group this yr. “I hope it can cease at one level,” he stated. “However not less than till yesterday, that time was not reached, apparently.”
