Van Aert withdraws from Dauphiné following stage victory
The Belgian was victorious in a sprint finish on stage 5 in Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes, marking his first victory since Paris-Roubaix and sixth career stage win at the Dauphiné, but has taken the decision alongside his team to withdraw less than 24 hours later.
Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) has withdrawn from the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné, ahead of stage 6.
Van Aert suffered a training crash on his time trial bike just days before the Dauphiné, and even after his stage victory, admitted to lingering effects of the incident.
The Belgian's sprint success on stage 5 was Visma’s second victory of the race after the Dutch squad won the team time trial on stage 3, though Van Aert was notably distanced early into the effort.
This led to the Belgian raising question marks over his own form before he quashed any doubts with the strong sprint victory.
Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed on Friday morning that the Belgian will not take to the start of stage 6, stating, “He is still experiencing significant discomfort in his elbow related to the crash he sustained last week. Wout will travel back to Belgium for further medical examinations.”
Stage 6 hosts the first of three consecutive summit finishes. Van Aert’s teammate Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) sits fourth overall, 15 seconds behind Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), who has held the yellow jersey since the opening stage.
There are just 22 days until the Tour de France kicks off in Barcelona on July 4, where Van Aert will be aiming to be fit and firing in support of Jonas Vingegaard’s Giro-Tour double ambitions.
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