Wout van Aert opens up about horrific crash in new documentary
‘The Spring Classics: Road to Resilience - Inside the Beehive’ chronicles the brutal day at Dwars door Vlaanderen
Visma – Lease a Bike’s Wout van Aert has shared his account of the brutal crash during Dwars door Vlaanderen, which resulted in fractures to his collarbone, seven ribs, and sternum. It was a fall that completely changed the trajectory of his season. He had to skip the remaining Classics–his big goal of the year, as well as skip the upcoming Giro d’Italia.
On Tuesday, his team released a documentary on YouTube, called, “The Spring Classics: – Road to Resilience Inside The Beehive’. It begins by showing when Van Aert crashed with less than 70 km to go. In the new film, we can see the reactions of the staff that were following the race, as well as hear from the Belgian himself.
Right away, Visma – LAB directeur sportif Grischa Niermann knew it was bad.
“Shit. That’s the end of the Spring Classics,” Nierman said as van Aert wailed in pain. “And no Giro.”
Van Aert knew it was not good either. “When I tried to move, I felt there was something wrong with my shoulder and hip,” the former green jersey at the Tour de France said.
“And then I experienced tremendous pain until I received some strong medication at the hospital. That first half hour was truly terrible.”
Although his teammate Matteo Jorgenson would win the race, it was a bittersweet conclusion to the day.
“From that moment on we had mixed feelings. We win the race, a brilliant finale by Tiesj and Matteo.But on the other hand, my thoughts are also very much with Wout. With his wife, his family,” Niermann said.
Van Aert watched the Tour of Flanders on TV–which he never would have dreamed of doing days earlier.
“The Tour of Flanders was the first day I was home. Because you still want to see how your teammates are doing,” he said. “But I couldn’t really get out of the chair at that moment, so it was even harder to avoid the race on the most important Sunday of the year.”
Van Aert reported that his recovery is on track, expressing satisfaction at being able to resume cycling despite the challenges. He acknowledged the stark contrast between his former peak condition and his current recovery phase.
His comeback does however continue to trend in a positive direction. He has been steadily progressing on his journey back to full fitness following his brutal rash at Dwars door Vlaanderen at the end of March. He’s been riding outside on his gravel and road bike, and says he almost feels professional again.
On Wednesday, he rode 133.16 km in just under four hours. The caption read, “Not an ordinary lunch ride.”
It wasn’t easy though, leading up to him finally being able to ride again.
Paris-Roubaix, one of his biggest goals for the year, was hard to watch on TV. “Maybe I found that even harder. The realization started to sink in that I was still very tired and needed a lot of care for my wounds,” he admits. “I was still far from training while watching one of the most beautiful races of the year. That was mentally the hardest moment for me in the past weeks.”
You can watch the full doc below.
