Wout van Aert had successful surgery on his ankle after suffering a "small fracture" during the Mol round of the Exact Cross on Friday.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider hit the ground hard late on during Friday's race, at which time he was on the wheel of his great rival, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) in treacherous snowy conditions. Van der Poel went onto win, his eighth victory from eight races this season.
Van Aert appeared to hurt the same leg that he suffered a "serious" knee injury on at the 2024 Vuelta a España, however it was his ankle that was affected this time around. An operation was quickly scheduled for Saturday in Herentals, Belgium.
"Of course I am very disappointed to have to end my cyclo-cross season like this," he said in a statement on Friday. "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."
His team later updated: "The surgery was successful. Wout will now begin his recovery."
The Belgian took part in six cyclo-cross races this winter as part of a truncated season, with his best results being two second places, at the X2O Trofee Hofstade and the Superprestige Heusden-Zolder.
"Wout will never be happy if he trains from October to February and has to watch every cyclo-cross race on TV," Visma-Lease a Bike head of performance Mathieu Heijboer told Belgian outlet Het Laatse Nieuws last week. "Then we'll have a Wout who's no longer interested in February. He's too much of an enthusiast for now to expect him to give up cyclo-cross."
However, racing cyclo-cross comes with risks, especially in inclement weather as seen currently; it is not known when Van Aert will be able to return to regular training.
This weekend, Van der Poel continued his domination, winning the Zonhoven round of the UCI World Cup in the sand and snow. He is aiming for a record-breaking eighth CX World Championships title at the end of the month.
In the elite women's race, Lucinda Brand (Baloise verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions) was beaten by Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Fenix-Premier Tech) to end the former's 13-race winning streak.
