🎥 Visma | Lease a Bike documentary portrays Van Aert's brutal crash: "First half hour was truly terrible"

In the documentary by Visma | Lease a Bike, a painful spring season is analyzed. There were two victories during the Opening Weekend, Matteo Jorgenson won Dwars door Vlaanderen, but of course, everything went wrong when Van Aert crashed hard onto the asphalt, breaking his collarbone, several ribs, and his sternum.

Van Aert himself gives a detailed account. "Initially, you're just shocked and try to move off the road as fast as possible. But when I attempted to move, I realized something was terribly wrong with my shoulder and hip. I was in a lot of pain until I received strong painkillers at the hospital. Those first thirty minutes were truly terrible."

Jorgenson won the race, but we see that the champagne in the hotel that evening was met with only subdued cheers. At that time, Van Aert was in the hospital. "They were able to immediately confirm the collarbone fracture, and then the next doctor told me I had broken seven ribs. Not much later, it turned out my sternum was also broken. I was pretty calm and jokingly said: I hope not many more doctors come because the injuries just keep adding up."

Van Aert mentions that on his first day home, he watched the Tour of Flanders on TV. "It was tougher during Paris-Roubaix when I realized just how far I still was from training. Watching one of the most beautiful races of the year was mentally challenging," he explains. At the end of the documentary, he provides a brief update: "It's confronting to go from one of the best conditions of your life to the worst condition."

In the slightly shorter video by Lidl-Trek, there's also a lot of focus on the crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen, where Stuyven was the biggest victim, suffering a broken collarbone. Of course, Mads Pedersen's victory at Gent-Wevelgem is mentioned too, but that fall... "That was far from ideal, huh! When you've worked so hard and there you are, all three of you lying there with injuries and fractures. What a fucking shitshow," Pedersen sighs.