Van Aert begins recovery after 'successful' ankle surgery

The Belgian went down in treacherous conditions on Friday in Mol, where snowfall turned the course into a slippery lottery. Van Aert had been riding strongly in what was shaping into a high level duel with Mathieu van der Poel, before he slid out in a corner and his foot twisted awkwardly forcing him to abandon. Scans later revealed a sprained ankle and a small fracture, with surgery scheduled for Saturday.

On social media the team stated that "The surgery was successful. Wout will now begin his recovery."

How long Van Aert will be out remains unclear, and Team Visma | Lease a Bike have not confirmed a timeline.

Van Aert had been set to race the World Cup in Zonhoven next Sunday, then the Belgian National Championships a week later, before heading to Spain for Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s January training camp.

A call on a possible start at the Cyclocross World Championships in Hulst was due around nationals, but that is now ruled out. He is still provisionally scheduled for an altitude camp on Tenerife in February, though it remains uncertain whether he can keep to that timetable.

To get a first medical read on what this might mean, Sporza spoke to sports doctor Tom Teulingkx, who has previously worked with Van Aert. 

“You usually see these fractures on a football pitch or a volleyball court, not on a bike,” Teulingkx said, pointing out how unusual an ankle fracture is in cycling, even if the crash made the mechanism clear.

He stressed that the damage around the joint is often the bigger story. “Around the ankle there are hundreds of ligaments, and with a distortion like that they usually tear or stretch,” he explained, adding that swelling is typical, and that only in a smaller share of cases it also results in a fracture.

If the break is limited, fixation can help. “If it’s a small avulsion of the bone, it can be fixed quickly, for example with a small plate,” Teulingkx said, while cautioning that the ankle and foot are complex and that the exact severity will determine the timeline.

Even so, he offered a rough frame for recovery. “A turned ankle usually needs three to four weeks to recover,” Teulingkx said, and he did not think this automatically has to derail Van Aert’s road spring. 

“In a favourable scenario he can be back on the bike within a few weeks,” he added, depending on how the fracture looks post surgery.

For Van Aert, the crash is another setback to overcome. Only last month, on Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s Inside the Beehive podcast, he said he was hoping for clean momentum. “Just a smooth run into my main objectives,” he said, a wish that has now been interrupted.

Speaking to The Athletic in November, Van Aert made clear that those main objectives remain unchanged: the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. “They would mean the world to me,” he said. “I feel already that I’ve been chasing them my whole career. But I’m still chasing them.”