Wout van Aert is to skip the Giro d'Italia because of the injuries he suffered in a crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen last month, it was announced on Thursday.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider said he was "disappointed" to be missing the Italian Grand Tour, which was set to be one of the biggest goals of the season, after the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, which he also missed.
At Dwars, Van Aert broke a collarbone, his sternum and seven ribs, and has been unable to train so far. While he has posted a walk and his first shower on Strava, he has not climbed on his bike in a meaningful way yet. There are just 23 days until the start of the Giro.
He will be replaced in the Visma team by Christophe Laporte, with the squad aiming for sprint victories through Olav Kooij and general classification through Cian Uijtdebroeks.
Van Aert was set to ride the Giro in advance of targeting the road race and time trial at the Paris Olympics later this year; it is not known if the Tour de France will be added to his programme as a result of this news. No update was given on his future schedule.
"I’m really happy to tell you that I’m doing well," Van Aert said in the message posted on social media. "I’m recovering from all my injuries at the moment. After my crash in Dwars Door Vlaanderen, a lot of injuries are quite good at the moment, but my ribs are still a limiting factor, so at this point I cannot train at all.
"I’m trying to do my first pedal strokes on the bike, but not enough to be able to train. That’s why we made the decision to not start the Giro d’Italia.
"It’s a big shame, I’m really disappointed to also miss my second big goal of the season but at this moment I need to prioritise my health and I need to give my body the time to recover."
In Van Aert's absence at the Classics, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won both Flanders and Roubaix.
The Belgian has won a stage of the Volta ao Algarve and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne so far in 2024, but was hoping to add to his palmarès in Italy in May, having never raced the Giro before.
Van Aert is not alone in being an injured Visma-Lease a Bike rider at present. Jonas Vingegaard, their GC leader for the Tour, was caught up in a horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country last week and faces a race against time to be ready for the race in July.
