"That can be the end of your career" - Belgian cyclocross legend warns Wout van Aert not to rush knee injury recovery

Wout van Aert has had an incredibly unlucky season, with two massive crashes that have each crushed his ambitions in his main goals. The first of which at Dwars door Vlaanderen eliminated Flanders, Roubaix and the Giro d'Italia from his schedule; whilst the Vuelta a España crash ended his race, the World Championships and is still a risk towards his career.

At the Vuelta he was leading the points and KOM classifications and had won three stages. It was also a goal for him to aim for the World Championships but this fall ended all of that, and led to a very big wound in the knee which required him to stay in the hospital for several days to avoid an infection.

This injury is still felt currently, as the Belgian is struggling to run even almost three months after. “In the meantime, it has been sufficiently proven that running is an added value for cyclists. It is the best power stimulus you can give your muscles. And certainly in cyclocross, we speak of a ‘plus-plus story’. The shocks they absorb make the tendon fibers stronger," Belgian Cycling doctor Kris Van der Mieren told Het Laatste Nieuws. 

“These fibres have to adapt and gradually become stronger again. Depending on the nature of the injury, this can take up to three, four months or even a year. Speeding up or forcing the recovery is completely out of the question," he warns. A return to cyclocross soon then may be put out of question, and his winter racing program can indeed not take place. "Because the great danger is that you will destroy those created fibres again in no time, because they are not strong enough and are ‘overpowered’."

Cyclocross legend Niels Albert agrees that the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider has to be extremely careful not to jeopardize his career over ”The knee joint is also a very sensitive joint. That knee, a joint that is constantly moving, must therefore be in tip-top condition."

"Take Gavere, Zonhoven, Namen, Loenhout, Baal… these are races where you regularly have to get off the bike. If you feel pain there, it stops. And if you help your knee completely to the dogs, that can be the end of your career.”