Tour de France after all? Wout van Aert said in December that is practically not an option

Wout van Aert won’t be participating in the Giro d’Italia, missing his second major goal of the year after the most important spring classics, as he announced in a video message. The Belgian of Visma | Lease a Bike now has just one main goal left, out of the ones he listed during the team’s day in December. And that is exactly why a simple assessment towards the Tour de France could now suddenly turn out quite differently…

Van Aert took a different approach last winter. He significantly cut down on his cyclo-cross season, focused even more on road racing, and made even more selective choices than before. Everything was focused on preparing for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. No Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico for him, but instead, a high-altitude training camp. Then, everything went awry on just his eleventh race day of 2024, after a hard crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen. Van Aert broke a collarbone, seven ribs and his sternum.

The fractures are healing well, the superstar states on the official channels of Visma | Lease a Bike. “But my ribs are still a limiting factor. At this point, I cannot train at all. I’m trying to do my first pedal strokes on the bike, but it is not enough for serious training,” he tells us, explaining why he is skipping the Giro.

Van Aert was set to ride the Tour of Italy for the first time, having participated in every edition of the Tour de France since 2019. After nine stage wins, wearing the yellow jersey, and securing the green jersey (2022), Van Aert felt it was time for a change. Jonas Vingegaard, his good friend and versatile teammate, was left disappointed. If he recovers in time from his crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, he will have to go for his third consecutive Tour victory without Van Aert’s support.

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Van Aert has been incredibly valuable to Vingegaard in the Tour in recent years

Will Van Aert stand by his earlier decision?

Or perhaps not? Now that Van Aert is missing the Giro, the Tour de France suddenly seems entirely possible. Just like for Vingegaard, this would obviously require sufficient time to train and get into top shape leading up to the Tour de France. The problem is that Wout’s third and only remaining big goal for 2024 was (and is) not the Tour, but rather the time trial at the Olympic Games in Paris. He shared this in December during an open interview with IDLProCycling.com, among others. “In the championships, I often come across guys who have prepared 100 percent for the time trial, whereas I often came from another race and then did the best I could. I’ve never done a race like that with thorough preparation,” he explained.

The Tour de France finishes on July 21, 2024, in Nice. The Olympic time trial is scheduled for July 27. “Without the Tour, I have the time to prepare 100 percent for the time trial. That’s what I’m looking forward to,” Van Aert honestly said. In fact, he even saw the Tour as an obstacle for his competitors to achieving the gold in Paris. “Because of the Olympic Games, I wanted to choose a different approach. The Olympic time trial is the Saturday after the Tour de France, so I don’t think the guys who do the Tour can show the maximum of their capabilities in that time trial. A training camp leading up to the time trial is a much better preparation.”