2024 crashes still painful for Wout van Aert: "Those parts of my body still require attention every day"
Cycling
Fractured sternum, ribs and collarbone. After the massive bad luck of puncturing at the 2023 Paris-Roubaix, in the last race before the 2024 Tour of Flanders Wout van Aert was part of a brutal racing crash. Almost one year has passed by but the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider still feels the effects of the high-speed incident at Dwars door Vlaanderen that affected several others.
“In the second half of the Dendermonde cross, I had a bit of trouble with my right leg, but not to the point where I had to slow down,” the Belgian said in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. “I can still feel my knee every day, and even my back and ribs from that crash in March.” He also tells that he feels the knee which he injured in a crash at the Vuelta a España, where a deep wound had him in the hospital for several days.
“Those parts of my body still require attention every day, so I am very happy that my body can handle such a mud cross, because clambering through mud up to your ankles is really a strain on your body. I also learned this weekend that it is definitely not bad in terms of fitness.”
Having won in Dendermond with a massive lead, it was perhaps the final test on the Belgian's body, perhaps at a good time for him as Mathieu van der Poel is out of competition over a rib injury. He is not scheduled to race the World Championships, but in Maasmechelen (the one remaining race where both should take part in) if the Belgian is able to take the win, he could possibly reconsider it.
“Let alone on a course where there is so much walking. I worked very hard with the physio to have a body that I can fully rely on again. It is very satisfying to see that confirmed in the cyclocross," he adds. Van Aert should start his season at the Clàsica Jaen Paraiso Interior on the 17th February.
“I am back, and that is good for my confidence. Also for what is yet to come. Ultimately, the cyclocross is a way station in the winter in which we wanted to see how far I had come. That appears to be at a good level already. It gives courage to continue working hard towards what is yet to come.”
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😱 A huge crash in the leading group has taken down a number of favourites, including Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen and Biniam Girmay, at Dwars door Vlaanderen 💥🤕
— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 27, 2024
Sending our best wishes to the riders who were involved in the crash. pic.twitter.com/hlfuZwhBZd
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