The medical report on stage 10 of the Tour de France had Wout van Aert down as having “contusions left elbow and forearm” after crashing on a nook, with the harm unhealthy sufficient that the Visma-Lease a Bike headed to the medical van after the stage to examine for fractures.
The information was constructive, in a yr the place the end result of crashes has at instances been devastating for the rider who had his early season plans upended by the results of coming down at Dwars door Vlaanderen in March.
“Luckily I’ve no fractures,” Van Aert instructed ready media in an interview broadcast by FloBikes. “We got here right here to ensure that I didn’t have any fractures within the arm as a result of that was fairly painful after the crash however fortunately that’s not the case, so excellent news.”
The multi-discipline rider identified for his superior bike dealing with abilities got here down after making a misstep as he led the group right into a sharper than anticipated bend as he was positioning workforce chief Jonas Vingegaard, forward of the steep terrain.
“It was my very own mistake, I overcooked the nook,” stated Van Aert, who luckily did not take every other riders with him. “I used to be actually not conscious it was so tight after which I crashed fairly arduous on the sidewalk.
“Afterwards it was fairly painful on each downhill so I used to be a bit afraid for the arm however apparently there aren’t any fractures so I hope to recuperate from it and that I can proceed.”
Crashes, he acknowledged, did not make the duty of attempting to assist Vingegaard to a 3rd Tour de France victory any simpler however there was one factor that momentarily dulled the ache.
“The final 15k after we heard that Jonas had gained – each for Christophe [Laporte) and me in our group – was much less painful,” stated Van Aert who completed the stage in 111th place and greater than half-hour after Vingegaard had claimed victory.
Vingegaard sits in third on the final classification after stage 11, 1:14 behind race chief Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and now simply eight seconds behind Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep). The Visma-Lease a Bike workforce supporting his chase for yellow remains to be at full energy, with all eight riders, but when Van Aert did should abandon because of damage they might lose a particularly beneficial participant.
When Van Aert was requested if he might bounce again from the crash and get again to work for Vingegaard he stated: “We’ll see. That’s after all my objective. So far its not been actually fortunate this yr for crashes however we are going to see how I really feel tomorrow. I’m simply joyful that I don’t have one thing severe the place I’ve to desert, in order that’s an important for now.”
