"I didn’t realize it had gone viral straight away" - Wout Van Aert accidentally headbutted a fan on the Kemmelberg and the memory will stay for life

Middelkerke - Wevelgem has delivered a lot of action with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert going on the attack. On the final ascent of the Kemmelberg, one fan got a closer look at the spectacle than others, has he got headbutted by Van Aert who was on the side of cobbled road attempting to follow the Dutchman.

It was a moment that wasn't captured by TV footage, but instead one of the photographers on the mythical Flandrien berg. With the gradients being very steep and the side of the road slightly more gentle in terms of road surface, the riders pursue every bit of road they can so as to move faster. This movement saw the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider come into contact with a fan.

“During the last passage on the Kemmelberg, I had picked a nice spot together with my daughter, who was standing just below me," the fan said, after being identified and interviewed by Sporza.

"Mathieu passed first. When I turned around to see Wout, he was already there and I lightly touched him. In the photo it looks like I hit him fully with my nose, but it was more in the turning motion.”

The picture, taken by Chris Hauld, quickly got viral on social media, capturing a moment that happened in a mere split second. The collision also looks quite painful due to how his nose receives the impact, but the fan denies that it was a hard hit: “There’s no damage at all. At that moment, I barely felt anything.”

Instead it was only a slight touch. But his face was quickly all over Flanders. “Suddenly I got message after message with the photo. I didn’t realize it had gone viral straight away. I sent him an apology via Instagram, just to be sure. It was never my intention to touch him.”

Nevertheless, despite being a harmless incident in which some humour can be extracted, it does bring forward the topic of the fans' proximity to the riders and how it can endanger both, as well as have strong consequences on the outcome of races.

“I was standing neatly with my hands behind the barriers, but I misjudged the situation for a moment. I will pay more attention next time. Even when you think you are standing safely, you still have to be careful.”