Wout van Aert’s recovery continues to come along after a horrible crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen, but what is next for the Belgian? Two weeks ago, he began riding again, and he has been steadily progressing on his journey back to full fitness after the accident at the end of March. He’s been riding outside on his gravel and road bike.
On Wednesday, he rode 133.16 km in just under four hours. The past week he’s logged 10 hours of riding, and that number will undoubtedly increase. It wasn’t easy, though, leading up to him finally being able to ride again.
The tough ride back
Paris-Roubaix, one of his biggest goals for the year, was hard to watch on TV. “Maybe I found that even harder. The realization started to sink in that I was still very tired. I needed a lot of care for my wounds,” he admits. “I was still far from training while watching one of the most beautiful races of the year. That was mentally the hardest moment for me in the past weeks.”
Wout van Aert could be in line for a return at the Tour of Norway, according to HLN. The Belgian news outlet said that Van Aert has marked the Tour of Norway (May 23-26) as his first race back. He won’t be riding the Giro, which begins Saturday, a he announced in April.
No Giro for Wout van Aert…but maybe the Tour?
“A lot of injuries are quite good at the moment but my ribs are still a limiting factor, so at this point I cannot train at all,” he explained. “I was trying to do my first pedal strokes on the bike but not enough to be able to train, that’s why we made the decision to not start at the Giro d’Italia.
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Belgian cyclists have done well at the Tour of Norway in recent years. Thibau Nys claimed a stage victory last year. In 2022, Remco Evenepoel secured three stage wins and clinched the overall victory.
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Regarding the Tour de France, if van Aert participates in the Tour of Norway at the end of May, he can then proceed with planning his summer schedule. Additionally, he has expressed interest in competing in the Belgian championships for both the time trial (scheduled for June 20 in Binche) and the road race (set for June 23 in Zottegem). Typically, Van Aert would engage in an extensive altitude training camp in July to prepare for the road race and time trial events at the 2024 Paris Games. However, this plan may need to be adjusted due to recent…
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