The impact of the crash left an immediate mark on Wout van Aert, with his jersey ripped, his back ablaze with road rash and multiple fractures causing excruciating pain. It took a moment or two to register the amount of the season.
As he did so, Van Ert’s body began to shake with sobs. His broken heart didn’t need an X-ray to tell him what he already knew. The 2024 Classics campaign ended not with a victory at the Roubaix velodrome, but here on the only road outside of Ronse, 67km from the finish line of Dwars ber Vlaanderen.
On television, Van Aert’s guttural screams could be heard above the stunned and panicked commentary team, and it was hard to tell whether the anxiety was due to injury or a dream death. It was also hard not to think of Sean Kelly and a similar moment of pathos at a critical moment in his career.
The contrast with Kelly has accompanied Van Aerts on some of his most dramatic rides in the afternoon, where nothing can be seen outside the region of the most efficient rider in the peloton. Perhaps it was only logical that there would be a parallel between them on Van Aert’s most tragic day.
The 1987 Tour de France was Kelly’s last race as a yellow jersey competitor. With Bernard Hinault retired and Greg LeMond absent, the Irishman left Berlin in the closest thing to one of the most open tours in living memory. His ordeal ended not far outside Briv when he broke his collarbone in a low-speed crash. He fought for an hour before succumbing to the inevitable and leaving.
Kas director sportif Christian Rumeau could no longer contain himself as he slipped the long-sleeved jersey over Kelly’s shoulders and led him to the team car. The heaviest man in cycling cried openly and unashamedly, and the entire Tour passengers seemed to cry with him.
Kicking a broken collarbone was something Kelly could handle, he’d been through it all before. The pain of pulling the plug was something else, a pain beyond popular stoicism.
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So it was Wednesday for Van Aert.
After pulling himself to the side of the road, he was struck by the futility of his carefully tailored itinerary for Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. His season was abruptly cut short. He is unlikely to recover in time for the Giro d’Italia, forcing him to rethink his preparation for the Paris Olympics.
“We’ve never seen Wutt van Aert cry after a stumble. no way! This time, yes.” The newspaper It was mentioned on Thursday morning.
“Van Aert’s tears were tears of pain and frustration. The realization that all the sacrifices of the past few months had been for naught hit Van Aert like a hammer.
Van Aert competed in a reduced cyclocross program during the winter as part of his Ronde mission. He stayed together for weeks at the top of the Parador Hotel in Tenerife. He skipped the Strade Bianche and Milan-San Ramon. For months, everything in his life was like a March 31 function.
And now it’s gone.
Black edge
Although Van Aert’s Wisma-Lies A bike teammate Matteo Jorgensen went on to beat Dwars’ Gate Vlaanderen, it was a muted sort of celebration when he finished in Waregem.
Thieg Benoit finished fourth on the day, but when he reached the mixed zone, thoughts were more on his involvement in Van Aert’s downfall than on his key role in Jorgensen’s victory.
“Watt yelled at me to speed up, and I did,” Benoit said of Canaryburg’s quick approach to that mass crash. “But when I took off to accelerate I think it hit my rear wheel. I’m really sad about it. “
Benoit’s part of the episode was cruelly funny. Van Aerts has done more than most to prepare for his planned prizefight with Mathieu van der Poel in Ronde and Roubaix, joining his friend in a three-week camp in Tenerife, accompanying him on endless trips between Red Bulls. Mount Teide.
The mood was very warm on the Visma-Liz A cycling team bus, where many reporters had gathered after the race. Plans to test with various Ronde competitors in the hybrid zone were put on hold. Grab the front page: Van Aert’s situation in Flanders was the story that dominated the news cycle.
At that moment, Van Aert was being examined in the hospital, but the diagnosis seemed to be self-evident. Directeur sportif Grisha Nierman knew he was facing a losing battle but tried to strike a positive note.
“In any case, we start Sunday with seven strong riders.
At various stations around the Visma-Lease A bicycle bus, members of the management team were being feted by television crews and reporters. No one had the exact information about Van Aert’s injury yet, but everyone knew what those x-ray results would be. Van Aert’s broken collarbone and ribs and broken ribs and ribs and ribs and ribs, and long before the announcement came down confirming his absence from the Ronde, Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold races, the roadside outcry said it all.
Mirijn Zeman could not help but think about the duality of the event as he spoke.
“One moment you see the sheer disaster of Wout and those boys, the next moment a rider crosses the finish line with his hands in the air,” he said. “Cycling is a beautiful sport with a dark edge.”
He was sentenced.
Van Aert won 46 tournaments as a professional.
The races he wanted above all others were the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but his connections to those events were poor.
“Ronde and Roubaix: Starting to look a bit off for Wout van Aert” Thursday Morning Edition The last news Save.
Van Aert’s only truly happy Ronde experience came in his 2018 debut, when he scored a promising ninth in a tentative transition from cyclocross to road.
A year later, he was the 14th disappointment. In the year In 2020, he finished second in two high-stakes races, beaten by eternal rival Mathieu van der Poel.
The following spring, Van Aert was a relatively unbeaten sixth, but that was better than 2022, when a Covid-19 diagnosis ruled him out of the race altogether. 12 months ago he had to settle for fourth after failing to settle with van der Pol and Tadej Pogacar.
The story at Paris-Roubaix was equally disappointing. In the year After finishing 13th in 2018, a series of mechanical failures meant his sparkling form took him to just 22nd a year later. It was a languid seventh in the 2021 pandemic-delayed edition, before being rescheduled for a second time the following April. A late puncture spoiled Van Aert’s challenge last year, leaving him in third place.
And now this latest misfortune.
Van Aert will be 30 years old when he tries to live his dream again. In previous generations, there was an era when the classics hunter could feel he had reached the top. These days, the picture is less clear.
“This young man is good enough to beat Ronde and Roubaix.” The last news It is mentioned. But on the other hand: in modern cycling, winners are getting younger and younger. It won’t be easy.”
In contrast, the path to a record-equalling third Tour of Flanders win for Van der Pol may be a bit more direct.
In evidence at E3 Harelbeke last Friday, Van Aert was the rider hoping to take the same rare spots as the World Championship on Sunday at Quarremont and Paterberg.
Van der Pol’s level of popularity is remarkable now, not least because Lidl-Trek also had Jasper Stuyven break his collarbone in the same crash as Van Aert. Stuyven’s team-mate Mads Pedersen, who won in Gent-Vevelgem, was also involved in the accident, although the Dane’s participation on Sunday does not appear to be in doubt.
“Even if Mathieu van der Pol won the Tour of Flanders on Sunday, the edition decided on going down to the Canary Islands four days ago will be forever,” he said. The newspaper.
In reality, this review can prove to be a very complicated matter. Cycling history is liberally shaped by sliding-door moments like these, and we forget them all more often than we think.
Tom Boonen’s 2012 Tour of Flanders victory was not cut short by Fabian Cancellara’s collapse with 50km to go. There is no asterisk in the record books alongside Peter Sagan’s 2016 Ronde victory to highlight how in-form Greg Van Avermaet was taken by accident.
The cycling world was turned upside down on Wednesday afternoon when Van Aert clipped Benoit’s tire, but the race continued as furiously as ever. It always works.
There will be racing on Sunday, and there will be a match to match. The beauty and brutality of the classics will not wait for anyone. Van Aert knows this better than anyone.