The Tour de France is finally here – and Wout van Aert is racing. At the start of the season, this was never the plan. He was to race a full Classics campaign and race the Giro d’Italia.
His eight-week break from racing was due to a crash that left him with fractures in his collarbone, sternum, and seven ribs. As a result, he had to withdraw from the remaining Spring Classics and miss his debut at the Giro d’Italia. Following the crash, he underwent an extensive rehabilitation period. He had planned to skip the Tour de France this year and then focus on the Olympic road race as his next goal.
The Belgian returned to racing at the Tour of Norway, two months after his brutal crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen on March 27. Although suffering on the first day, he had two good results, a fourth and a third, and said that his confidence is coming back.
He also raced at the Belgian road championships, where he finished fifth. Van Aert skipped the TT championship where he would be defending his 2023 title. His team, Visma – Lease a Bike, announced that both he and Jonas Vingegaard would race the Tour, answering the question that so many cycling fans had been asking for months. The Dane also had a bad crash in Spain, which saw him hospitalized for 12 days.
Van Aert and his wife, Sarah De Bie, celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary on the eve of the Tour de France, on Friday. The Belgian celebrated this in a post on Instagram, where he shared photos of his wife and two children.
“The three people who helped me stand up, find joy, and eventually to race again. Because of you I made it to the start of the Tour!”
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