Enlarge image
Wout van Aert before his fall
Photo: David Pintens / Belga / IMAGO
Cycling superstar Wout van Aert was injured in a mass fall in front of the upcoming Tour of Flanders (March 31) and Paris-Roubaix (April 7) monuments. The 29-year-old Belgian crashed on Wednesday with several other riders in the semi-classic Across Flanders cycling race about 68 kilometers from the finish in Waregem and had to give up. The nine-time Tour de France stage winner may be at risk of failing in the upcoming one-day classics.
According to media reports, Van Aert had to be put on a stretcher while crying. It was also over for three other professionals. There was initially no exact information regarding the injuries. In addition to van Aert, the Danish professional Mads Pedersen and the Eritrean Biniam Girmay were also involved in the crash.
Van Aert, teammate of two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, is experiencing a bitter start to the season. Last Friday he also crashed at the E3 Prize and later had to admit defeat to his long-term rival Mathieu van der Poel. Van Aert was one of the favorites for Sunday's Tour of Flanders, which will bring up to 750,000 fans to Belgium's biggest sporting event. Last year he came fourth and in 2020 he came second.
Van Aert's teammate wins
In his career so far, the Belgian has won, among other things, the silver medal in the Olympic road race in Tokyo, Milan-Sanremo and the Amstel Gold Race. He also became cross world champion three times.
Across Flanders was won by US professional cyclist Matteo Jorgenson. Van Aert's 24-year-old teammate emerged from a breakaway group on Wednesday after 188.6 kilometers ahead of the Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and the Swiss Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ). “This season has been a dream for me so far,” said Jorgenson, “but I saw Wout’s fall up close and it looked really bad. My thoughts are with him.”
kjo/dpa/sid