"How quickly you have to say goodbye to your sacrifices" - Alberto Contador empathises with Wout van Aert

Wout van Aert has made no secret about the fact he was targeting the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix this spring. Sadly for the Belgian, those goals went up in smoke on Wednesday afternoon.

Going down hard at Dwars Door Vlaanderen, van Aert suffered a broken collarbone and broken ribs. "Just a very deep bow to our Wout, who has made all kinds of sacrifices over the past few months to be at his best in the spring classics. The shape was there, but unfortunately luck was not on his side," posted Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "Cycling is a wonderful sport. But at the same time, top sport is also so ruthless."

Having sacrificed so much for in his attempts to target the Spring Classic, this news is a bitter blow for van Aert. Alberto Contador, someone who's no stranger to adversity himself, can empathise with the Belgian superstar.

"How hard cycling is, not because of the sacrifices you have to make to get to your goal in top form, but because of how quickly you often have to say goodbye to them," the Spaniard writes on his official X (Twitter) account. "A speedy recovery to all of you."