It is not yet clear whether van Aert will be able to compete in the Road Cycling World Championships in Zurich from September 21 to 29. “Wout was taken to hospital by ambulance. He is being examined there. Of course we are very sad that he is leaving the Vuelta in this way. Luck has not been on our side this season. We all feel for him,” said Grischa Niermann, sports director of Visma-Lease a BikeVisma, on X (formerly Twitter). An exact diagnosis is pending.
At the end of March, van Aert had already crashed at high speed during the semi-classic Across Flanders in Belgium, breaking his collarbone, sternum and several ribs. The Visma rider was forced to miss the classics Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix as well as the Giro d’Italia.
The difficult 16th stage, which ended after 181.5 kilometers with the mountain finish in Lagos de Covadonga, was won by Spaniard Marc Soler. Australian Ben O’Connor defended the red jersey of the leader in the overall standings. But his lead over second-placed Primoz Roglic from the German team Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe continued to shrink. The Slovenian cycling star and top favorite is now only five seconds behind O’Connor.
Roglic’s teammate Florian Lipowitz, on the other hand, lost the white jersey of the best young professional on the stage. The 23-year-old former biathlete fell to third place in the junior rankings behind the Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez and Mattias Skjelmose from Denmark.
The 17th stage runs over 141.5 kilometers from Arnuero to Santander on Wednesday. The Vuelta ends on September 8 with an individual time trial in Madrid.
