The impact of the crash left an immediate mark on Wout van Aert, his jersey torn to shreds, his back aflame with road rash and the multiple fractures causing huge pain. The magnitude of the moment took a beat or two longer to register.
When it did, Van Aert’s body began to convulse in sobs. He didn’t need an x-ray to tell him what his broken heart already knew. His 2024 Classics campaign had ended, not in victory on the Roubaix velodrome, but here, on a lonesome road outside Ronse, 67km from the finish of Dwars door Vlaanderen.
