Van Aert misses Visma's Tignes altitude camp as elbow concerns continue

It's been an absolute rollercoaster for Wout van Aert at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. After a difficult start, he won stage five, but a day later he was unable to start because of an elbow injury. Following examination, the wound was found to be infected: now Visma | Lease a Bike can at least confirm that the Belgian will skip the altitude camp in Tignes.

Wout van Aert arrived at the start of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with his elbow bandaged up. The explanation given was that he'd crashed on his time trial bike before the race began. That, at least, explained his performances in the first few days: he should have been dropped on the first two stages, but we never saw that happen. And in the team time trial, he was dropped early on.

It all looked pretty grim for the Belgian all-rounder riding in Dutch colours, but stage four brought signs of improvement. Behind the breakaway, Van Aert was the fastest in the bunch sprint. It gave hope, and a day later he confirmed his form: he won stage five in dominant fashion. Was he really back?

Apparently not, because even before the start of stage six, he had to say goodbye to the race. After his win, he complained that his elbow was getting more and more painful. A night's rest didn't help either, and so he was withdrawn from the race. Visma | Lease a Bike sent him back to Belgium to have his injured arm examined. The result was an infection in the wound.

A hugely disappointing conclusion, as it confirmed the team's fears. An altitude camp in Tignes was important for the team, and Van Aert would normally have been there. Now that was in doubt, and even the Tour de France had become something of an uncertainty. What we do know for certain is that Visma | Lease a Bike have confirmed he didn't travel to the altitude camp, as reported by Sporza.

It's certainly not a good sign, but it's not yet clear whether he'll join the team later in France. With the Tour de France starting in just under three weeks, the timing of the injury is, at the very least, unfortunate.

Team director Maarten Wynants is concerned. "Because we already knew he didn't have much margin," the Belgian told Het Nieuwsblad. "He was already 'below the baseline,' and this certainly isn't going to help. The most important thing now is for him to get healthy first." But he knows time is starting to run short. "You could certainly say that, yes."