Belgium, but actually the entire cycling world in tears for Van Aert: "A rider who felt completely liberated"

Wout van Aert literally (because of his jerseys) and figuratively colored the Vuelta a España, the tour he had to leave during stage sixteen because of a crash. Especially in Belgium, but everywhere who cares about the race, people are upset about the DNF of the man from Herentals, we may conclude after a "tour through the fields."

Let's start with Sporza men José De Cauwer and Renaat Schotte, who discussed the unlucky Fleming in their daily analysis. "It's miserable. Dropping out at the moment when you are, so to speak, working on a Wout van Aert 2.0. He had returned and was completely fine," De Cauwer said. "It was a stupid fall, but it always is. He couldn't do anything about it himself. It's unfortunate."

"How many disappointments can a person overcome?"

The cycling chief of Het Nieuwsblad, Wim Vos, asked precisely how much a rider's head can take. After all, this is not the first time this year that the 29-year-old Fleming has kissed the asphalt. "Nothing is spared him, nothing. This rider felt completely liberated from the misery that haunted him earlier this season. Once again, Van Aert sits where he has too often sat: at home, licking wounds," Vos wrote.

"How much can a rider's body take? You wonder more and more about Van Aert, " he also wrote. "And also, how much can someone tolerate mentally? It has always been Van Aert's great asset. Physically and mentally, he possessed a resilience that few are given. With every setback, he immediately saw the next goal. All that work, all those hours of training, and then that setback. How many disappointments can a man overcome? Van Aert's body gets a hard time, but his head took the most brutal hit on Tuesday."

Then again, Het Laatste Nieuws, another Belgian newspaper, posted an overview article of sorts detailing the unlucky year of Van Aert, who went down no less than ten times (!) in 2024: from the bars at the cross country in Benidorm to the mistake on the Paterberg during the E3 Saxo Classic and from the famous Dwars door Vlaanderen crash to the Tour de France. "The year seems cursed for Van Aert," the newspaper characterized.

"After returning to his best form, fate strikes again"

The Dutch press also frequently discussed the Belgian in their sports sections. "When disaster struck, Wout van Aert was back to one of his unparalleled masterpieces in this Vuelta a España. The Superbelg of Visma | Lease a Bike had just strengthened his position in the mountain jersey, after which he crashed hard in the descent of Collada Llamena, "wrote De Telegraaf.

At the General Dagblad, the term "disaster year" is also around the corner. "Now the bitterness that characterizes the year 2024 prevails at Visma | Lease a Bike. Also, this Vuelta the curse remains," the daily newspaper said. "After returning to his best form, fate strikes again."