Wout van Aert reveals latest on injury and recovery

To say Wout van Aert has had a season full of highs and lows is an understatement. After a promising beginning to his season, he crashed hard at Dwaars door Vlaanderen, which completely changed his plans for 2024. He was forced to recover from his injuries, which meant skipping the Giro d’Italia and his Classics campaign—the biggest goals of his season.

He finally raced again and got back into shape at the Tour de France. By the time the Vuelta a España came around, he was flying. He won three stages and was wearing both the points and climbers’ jerseys when he crashed in a two-man breakaway.

A premature end to the Vuelta

“Initially, it looked like I suffered a major blow when I crashed, but no fracture,” Van aert told Het Nieuwsblad.

Not only was he forced to quit the Spanish Grand Tour, but he also had to pull the plug on the remainder of his road season. “On returning to Belgium, a huge bruise was detected, fortunately not on the kneecap itself but in a vulnerable spot on the joint, and it needed stitches. That explains the pain I felt,” he said. “It was tough for me to move; all my muscles were weakened, and I had to spend 10 days in bed without moving my leg.”

There was a risk of infection, as well, the Visma – Lease a Bike rider explained. “We had to treat it quite aggressively with antibiotics to avoid having another operation. That was a big setback,” he said. “Fortunately, my cartilage, kneecap, and ligaments are all intact. So it is not an injury that will keep me off the bike permanently.”

Disappointed but keeping things in perspective

After all the work getting back to fitness and then having a great run in Spain, he was obviously quite upset about the crash. “I’ve also had the disappointment of finishing a season this way; it’s tough to handle. I was right on the point of taking home a new jersey from the Vuelta, and that was very hard to accept,” he said. “I think my fitness in the Vuelta was the best since the 2022 Tour de France. That’s all very important mentally for the future.”

Van Aert did say that it’s important to put everything into perspective. It hasn’t been my best season, and I’ve faced a lot of setbacks. But I’m very proud of what I could do,” he said.

Although he didn’t confirm it exactly, he hopes to be able to recover and race cyclocross this year. “Nothing is certain yet, and I will see how I feel. It would be a bit crazy to talk about that now. The only problem is that running and jumping could be tricky at first, but that’s my objective. Whatever happens, I want to start 2025 with new goals and perform as well as possible in the Classics.”

There’s one thing that is certain—he doesn’t have to worry about a team. On Tuesday, he announced he had signed an unprecedented lifetime contract with his Visma – Lease a Bike team.

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