Wout van Aert has ridden outdoors for the first time since his Classics campaign was ended by his heavy crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen last month.
The Belgian sustained fractures to his collarbone, sternum and ribs in the mass crash, and last week he confirmed that the injuries have ruled him out of his planned Giro d’Italia debut.
Van Aert since resumed riding his bike indoors, with his Zwift account reporting activity totalling 111km in recent days. On Wednesday morning, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider ventured outside for the first time in three weeks, taking in 30km in just over an hour aboard a mountain bike around his home in Herentals.
Van Aert rode on a bike equipped with full suspension and with spacers to raise the handlebars for additional comfort.
He posted the data of the ride on Strava, with a joking caption: “Sorry to all colleagues I have ever given shit to because they had spacers under their stem"
In a video message last week, Van Aert explained that he had been unable to resume full training quickly enough to make it viable to ride the Giro.
"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,” he said.
“That is why we made the decision to not start in the Giro d’Italia.”
It is not yet known when Van Aert will return to competition nor is it clear if he will be added to Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tour de France selection.
The 29-year-old had initially opted to ride the Giro rather than the Tour this season with an aim to preparing specifically for the Paris 2024 Olympics, where he is expected to ride both the time trial and the road race. Van Aert claimed silver in the road in Tokyo three years ago.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tour de France ambitions and plans remain nebulous for the time being, with two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard’s participation in obvious doubt after he suffered a broken collarbone and a pneumothorax in the mass crash at Itzulia Basque Country earlier this month.
The Dane spent 12 days in hospital in Vitoria before he was released on Tuesday. Spanish newspaper AS reported that Vingegaard may have travelled to his base in Switzerland or to his home in Denmark on a medical plane on Tuesday but Visma-Lease a Bike have already confirmed he will not attend a planned pre-Tour de France altitude training camp in May.
