Major blow for Wout van Aert and Visma's Tour de France - Belgian's wound infected as altitude training camp and Tour in doubt

The last two weeks have been quite the rollercoaster for Wout van Aert and Visma | Lease a Bike as the Belgian went from crashing in training and a shaky start to the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, to a stunning stage win before more disappointment as his injuries deteriorated.

The Paris Roubaix winner, 31, was forced to abandon the stage race and travelled back to Belgium for further tests on his injured elbow after suffering pain in the area during stage 5. Despite winning the stage, the team confirmed that the effects of his training crash were still being felt.

Van Aert crashed on Monday, June 1, just days before the Tour de France preparation race. Although fit to race, he notably dropped earlier than expected on the team time trial during stage 3 but soared to victory on stage 5 in a bunch sprint. But the good news stopped there for the Dutch team.

According to HLN, results from a check up in Belgium have revealed that there is an infection in the wound on his elbow. This means he will have to stay off the bike for several days as they assess its healing.

Furthermore, with the team set to land in Tignes for the final altitude training ahead of the Tour de France, van Aert's participation in both the camp and Tour de France have been put in doubt. The Belgian's summer plans now depend on how the inflammation responds to treatment.

Both van Aert and Visma face a race against the clock as the new spanner in the works could derail their team plans for the Tour de France, which kicks off with an intense team time trial on July 4th in Barcelona.

The team will arrive at the Grand Tour with Giro d'Italia winner Jonas Vingegaard as leader, with van Aert originally pinned to be a key versatile support on hills and mountain terrain.

The Dane is aiming to challenge Tadej Pogacar in the the general classification battle that's set to include Paul Seixas, Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz amongst other leaders.

Illness has also infected the Visma at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as they confirmed that Norwegian duo Jorgen Nordhagen and Per Strand Hagenes dropped out before stage 7, leaving leader Matteo Jorgenson with just three teammates to support him in the weekend finale.