Fracture for Van Aert Destroys Prospects of World Champs Thriller

Wout van Aert finally appeared to be at the same level as Mathieu van der Poel Friday, but a possible showdown between the two at the cyclocross world championships has been upended due to a crash and a fracture.

Head to head in blizzard conditions in the Exact Cross Mol – Zilvermeercross, Van Aert slid out on an icy bend on lap six of nine, hitting the ground hard. He remounted and limped on to the pits, but then had to withdraw.

A near-hypothermic Van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) went on to win his eight consecutive win this season, stomping home 1:23 ahead of Toon Aerts (Charles Liégeois-Deschacht) by 1:23 and Felipe Orts Lloret (Ridley Racing Team) by 1:41.

Ceylin Alvarado (Fenix-Premier Tech) stormed to her first win of the season in the women’s race, 12 seconds clear of Manon Bakker (Crelan-Corendon) and 26 ahead of Julie Brouwers (Charles Liégeois-Deschacht).

It took a while for the full details of Van Aert’s injury to emerge.

“Wout is experiencing pain in his ankle,” Visma-Lease a Bike directeur sportif Jan Boven said after the race. “We will conduct further examinations before drawing any conclusions. It’s a shame the race had to end this way, because Wout was very strong, and it was a great duel.”

Van Aert underwent a medical examination and was diagnosed with a small fracture to his ankle. The Visma squad issued a statement confirming he will undergo surgery on Saturday, and has been forced to abandon the rest of the cyclocross season.

No battle for the rainbow jersey

Van Aert was riding the sixth race of his season and looked to be in his best form yet. He distanced Van der Poel at times and then went clear with his big rival on lap three. And while a tricky sand section saw him distanced, he fought his way back and looked as strong as the world champ heading into the final three laps of the race.

“Of course I am very disappointed to have to end my cyclocross season like this,” he said. “I was feeling better and better, including today in Mol. I was really looking forward to the race in Zonhoven and the Belgian Championships. But my focus will now be on recovery and, later on, the preparation of the road season.”

Van Aert had not confirmed a world championships participation but last week Belgian national coach Angelo De Clercq made clear that he wanted him at the worlds in Hulst on February 1.

“Wout has already shown a huge amount of progress in the crosses he finishes,” he said at the Gavere World Cup race, according to Sporza. “In Hofstade he was really very stable.

“I still hope Wout will start in Hulst. If I make my pre-selection now, I’ll fill in his name with pencil. I also don’t think it’s completely out of the question that he’s going to the world championships, but a final selection will be made around the national championships. Then we’ll see if Wout is there or not.”

Sadly that will not now happen, dashing the chances of another historic duel between the two most accomplished riders in cyclocross.

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