Wout van Aert crashed at the Dwars door Vlaanderen and suffered fractured collarbone, ribs and sternum. This ultimately took him out of the cobbled monuments and the Giro d'Italia, a huge disappointment for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Now however, the Belgian rider returns to racing at the Tour of Norway.
"It hasn't always been easy sitting on the sidelines, but fortunately, I can now look ahead again", van Aert said in a press release issued by the team. "I am looking forward to pinning on a race number again. I have been able to train more and more in recent weeks, but it is still different from racing. So, my main goal is to test myself and see how I do in a race. Without any expectations."
Almost two months after the crash, van Aert returns to competition. In Norway he will find a modest field in which he may be competitive if he's got competitive form; but he starts the race without expectations.
"It's great to have Wout back in the team after his crash. He starts without any pressure to perform," team DS Merijn Zeeman added. "This is a good moment for him to test himself in competition again. We don't know yet what the rest of his race schedule will look like. We will see in the coming weeks. We are taking things one step at a time. That has proven to be the best way to recover"
Van Aert is aiming for race the Olympic Games this year as a big goal for the season and, after his absence from the Giro d'Italia, a Tour de France participation is very much on the table. The presence of Jonas Vingegaard in the team is not a certainty as well, which could affect the decision on van Aert. The race takes place from the 23rd to 26th of May.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike for Tour of Norway:
Wout van Aert
Bart Lemmen
Koen Bouwman
Tijmen Graat
Menno Huising
Per Strand Hagenes
Bart Lemmen
Koen Bouwman
Tijmen Graat
Menno Huising
Per Strand Hagenes
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Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
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Guess who's back, back again! 😏 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐞𝐫𝐭 makes his comeback in @tourofnorway! 🤩 Read what Wout has to say about it. ⤵️
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