"Are you an influencer or a rider?" - Wout van Aert questioned by former Paris-Roubaix winner

2024 has been something of a mixed season as far as Wout van Aert can be concerned. The Belgian did have notable highlights at the Vuelta a Espana and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, but crashes consistently scuppered any momentum Van Aert was able to build up.

The most recent of these crashes came in the third week of the aforementioned Vuelta a Espana. Leading both the King of the Mountains and Green Jersey classifications, Van Aert was in the breakaway and aiming for his 4th stage victory of the Spanish Grand Tour on stage 16. Sadly though, that's where things went wrong as he crashed hard on a slippery descent, leaving the race in the back of an ambulance and ultimately being forced to end his season as a whole.

Reflecting on the 2024 season in professional cycling and specifically the year of Van Aert, 2011 Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Vansummeren shared some sympathy for his compatriot's repeated bad luck. "You don't get better from such high-speed crashes of course," begins the 43-year-old Belgian, who retired back in 2016 via Het Belang van Limburg.

Although it's likely Van Aert is a much more recognisable name than Vansummeren to most cycling fans, the latter does have something the Team Visma | Lease a Bike star has been desperately searching for since 2020... a monument victory. With Van Aert now the wrong side of 30, Vansummeren is also beginning to fear that chances are running out for another monumental success. "Wout has blown out thirty candles and another chance to win that top classic has been missed," he notes.

Nevertheless, Van Aert's recovery is coming along well. Off the crutches and back on the bike, the Belgian recently insisted he will be seen in cyclocross this winter. Some aspects of Van Aert's work to get back fit have drawn the ire of the former AG2R La Mondiale and Garmin Sharp rider though. "I'm getting tired of all his videos," Vansummeren complains, referring to the regular updates posted to Van Aert's official social media pages. "Throwing crutches away in a container, involving the wife and children. Are you an influencer or a rider?"