Wout Van Aert abandons Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - Recent injury a cause for worries at Visma

Wout Van Aert suffered a crash during training last week and has an elbow injury that has stayed with him throughout the Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike has abandoned the race ahead of stage 6, raising questions about the Tour de France.

"Wout van Aert will not appear at the start of stage 6 of Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes today. He is still experiencing significant discomfort in his elbow related to the crash he sustained last week," the Dutch team explained on a social media post.

"Wout will travel back to Belgium for further medical examinations. Join us in wishing Wout a smooth recovery".

The Belgian had a few difficult first few days at the French race, quite far from the form he had shown throughout the spring. Whilst this was a worrying sign, as the race progressed there were two flat finales where he showed his speed.

With the breakaway caught, stage 5 provided the sprinters with their only shot at fighting for victory this week, and it was Van Aert who took the victory. A positive sign ahead of the Tour de France, but it hasn't lasted long.

Van Aert will undergo more examinations on his elbow injury, however it does not seem like it will pose an issue to his training schedule, taking into consideration he has raced the first days of the French race and has ended his stint with a stage win.

But his form is still quite far from what it could be, three weeks from the Grand Depart. The Belgian has hinted that the bunch sprints at the Tour may not be a goal, with a much stronger field and need to take risks just to be in contention; and ultimately he may just take part in a domestique role.

The Paris-Roubaix has a few more weeks ahead of the race in order to prepare for it, some of it likely to be spent at altitude where he should join Jonas Vingegaard who will soon also travel for his pre-Tour training camp.