Visma | Lease a Bike shares medical update Van Aert after nasty fall in the Vuelta: leader spent night in hospital

Wout van Aert is no longer part of the Vuelta a España. The Belgian was on the attack at the beginning of the 16th stage, fell with no severe injuries, returned, and jumped to the breakaway. There, he fell again in a descent. This fall was more severe and immediately ended his Vuelta a España, after which more became clear regarding his injuries during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

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After only seven kilometers, Van Aert fell in the stage. Moments later, the green jersey could return via the cars and quickly rejoined the peloton—nevertheless, a nasty crash for the Belgian, who attacked to be in the breakaway. Van Aert also made a goal for the mountain jersey, in addition to securing the green jersey. In the end, despite his fall, the Belgian managed to be in the front.

Van Aert takes total points twice on climbs but falls again on slippery descent

On the first mountain of the day, Van Aert took all the mountain points, after which he went solo for twenty kilometers. After this, he was caught up, but he also scored ten points on the day's second climb. However, this was followed by another dramatic moment in Van Aert's year. In the slippery descent of the second climb, he crashed hard. Again, and now a lot more seriously.

He remained in the car's trunk for a long time after this, full of disbelief. There, he hardly moved for minutes and was surrounded by people from the team staff. His arm and knee were completely open. At this point, however, it was not clear whether the Belgian had also left the race.

It is yet another lousy luck moment in a disastrous year for Van Aert. He fell heavily in Dwars door Vlaanderen, had to rehabilitate for months, and was not at the super level on the Tour. Just in the Vuelta a España, he was on track to save the season with a string of stage wins, the green jersey, and maybe even the polka dot jersey. Until the deliberate descent. A moment to become silent about Van Aert's year again.

Visma | Lease a Bike shares Van Aert's diagnosis

At Visma | Lease a Bike, they were quiet about it afterward at HLN. "Wout first got on the bike to give it a try. Of course, we had seen the injury on his knee, but it was the instinct of a rider to get back on that bike. Over the radio, however, Wout quickly said he couldn't ride. So, after a few turns, we stopped again. The doctor rushed in to clean the wound, and Wout said it wouldn't work. The stage continued for me, but you don't want to see things like this. Massive disappointment because Wout was also just in a good schwung," said sports director Addy Engels.

Our mechanic has stayed with Wout, and our team doctor is on his way, but we don't know more. We know only that he fell on his knee. The fact that he got in the ambulance doesn't look good. This is just very unpleasant. Things are tough for us.

Visma | Lease a Bike came with the medical update during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. "Wout did not sustain any fractures from his fall. The triple-stage winner had to give up because of severe knee pain caused by a deep wound. That wound requires intensive care. Wout is traveling back to Belgium to recover further," it sounds.

"We are still going for a stage win, but without Wout, that will be difficult," Niermann said

On Wednesday morning, the day after the crash, Visma | Lease a Bike came to the cycling newsroom with a new update on Van Aert, again through Niermann. "The latest news is that Wout spent a night in hospital. Nothing was broken, but there was a deep wound on the knee. That has been taken care of."

"This has been of very great impact for us," Niermann continued. "But those three stage wins, of course, nobody will take away from him. His big goals were the green jersey and the polka dot jersey. Unfortunately, those are gone. For the guys still in the race, it is also a matter of resetting and seeing how things turn out. This Vuelta was all about Wout, who was really in good shape. It is challenging for the team, especially for him."

"Everyone was pretty down," the German team leader concluded. "After all, they still had to ride past him when he was in the team car. That was not a pretty sight. Unfortunately, this is also part of the sport. This, too, is cycling. We will move on, and the boys will compete, but it is a disappointment for the moment. We will try to get what we can out of it. With Sepp (Kuss, ed.), we still have a chance to ride in the top ten, for example. Also, the other guys are in good shape so that we will make the switch. We are still going for a stage win, but without Wout, that will be difficult."

It is not yet clear to what extent that wound will keep him away from the goals he had after the Vuelta: the European Championships in his own country (Sept. 15), the World Road Championships in Zurich (Sept. 29), and the World Gravel Championships in Leuven on Oct. 6.