"Curse and sigh" went through team bus Visma | LaB, where leading figures witnessed crash Van Aert

On Wednesday, Arthur van Dongen was sat in the Visma | Lease a Bike bus together with Sports Director Merijn Zeeman to watch Dwars door Vlaanderen. There, the two witnessed the crash of team leader Wout van Aert, who at the very least broke his collarbone and several ribs, which means he can forget about racing the remainder of the spring classics. After the race, the team director shared his account of what happened on the bus with IDLProCycling.com.

"This is obviously a significant setback that we all have to process. After that, we can start making new plans," began Van Dongen. "From the bus, Merijn and I could do the analyses and direct Grischa Niermann, who was in the car, based on what we saw and heard. The moment Wout fell, there was indeed a curse and a sigh on our end," the team director stated, realistic as always. "It looked bad and very painful."

Zeeman spoke to VTM after the race. "It was very intense and terrible. A fall like that is dreadful to watch. When someone screams in pain like that, it's very intense," the Sports Director shared. "It's just incredibly sad. We, as team directors, deeply sympathize with the riders. We know what they do for their team and how hard they work, so this is incredibly sad."

Van Dongen: "Loss many times greater than gain"

"What happened? I couldn't tell from the footage, but that's of no use to us. We can't turn it around and are left holding the bag, so to speak," he explains. "In that moment, you still have to try to switch gears, because you have to move on," he continues. "That's cycling for you. The win is a great gain, but the loss is many times greater," concludes Van Dongen.

Van Aert will at the very least have to miss the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the Amstel Gold Race. The Belgian of Visma | Lease a Bike broke his collarbone and several ribs, which also jeopardizes his preparation for the Giro. "Our spring was actually supposed to start on Sunday, but this is yet another setback," Grischa Niermann told NOS. "We won after a great race, those guys showed resilience, because they were also shocked. Matteo won, so we have to be happy for him. Cycling is just a tough sport, because you have to leave someone on the ground like that after two minutes."