Belgian rider Wout van Aert will leave hospital on Tuesday after undergoing a successful operation on his leg, his team Jumbo-Visma have announced.
Van Aert suffered a terrible crash during the final kilometre of stage 13 of the 2019 Tour de France – an individual time trial around Pau – after he got caught on a barrier when taking a sharp turn.
While he managed to avoid any bone damage, he did sustain a deep wound in his upper right leg.
Following the incident, Van Aert had the wound cleaned, stitched, and drained over the weekend in Pau, with everything going as expected and is set to be discharged today.
The Dutch team are waiting until the former cyclo-cross champion has been moved to a more suitable location in Belgium or the Netherlands before assessing the precise damage the crash has caused to his muscle.
However, when discussing his injury Van Aert said, ‘According to the surgeon, it takes two months before I can cycle again.
‘I hope he was exaggerating a bit, because I don’t intend to stay off the bike for two months.’
Van Aert immediately abandoned the Tour following the crash, but had already left his mark on the race, taking an impressive individual victory on stage 10 as well as team success in the team time-trial on the opening weekend.