"It was a stupid fall, but that's always the case" - Experts react to Wout van Aert's Vuelta a Espana abandon

Wout van Aert's bright performance at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana met a premature end on stage 16 as the Team Visma | Lease a Bike superstar crashed hard on a slippery descent and was forced to abandon the race.

After three stage wins and holding a lead in both the points classification and the King of the Mountains classification, Van Aert had sparkled over the last two weeks, making his sad exit all the worse for Sporza's Jose De Cauwer. "It's a real shame," the Belgian begins his analysis. "It's a loss at the moment when you're, let's say, working on a Wout van Aert 2.0. He had returned and he was completely fine."

Whilst De Cauwer's co-analyst Renaat Schotte points to Van Aert's KOM point hunting as the root cause, De Cauwer himself isn't so sure it was the key factor. "Some people will say: 'He shouldn't have gotten involved in that battle for the mountain points,'" Schotte proposes. "I've been saying that for 14 days, so to speak. I wouldn't have done it as a team, but to be clear: that fall has nothing to do with it. Although I would have been more careful with my efforts," De Cauwer answers however.

"It was a stupid fall, but that's always the case. It wasn't his fault. It's a real shame," he adds. "After the first climb, he descended at his own pace. He rode ahead for a while and then let himself be caught. On tiptoes he picked up points on the second climb and let Felix Engelhardt ride ahead of him on the descent. After that fall you can say: 'Wout, you ride so well downhill.' It was also raining. And then you get this."

With the World Championships also coming up soon, Van Aert's as of time writing unknown injuries, could scupper more than just his Vuelta a Espana hopes. "A Belgian team with or without Wout, that's a world of difference. Now you have one trump card and you can race in one way," De Cauwer admits. "Our (Belgium's ed.) chances have decreased by half. At least. Suppose that Van Aert and Evenepoel together form 100 percent, then it is a different matter now with only Evenepoel. The control is completely different."