What broken ankle? Van Aert already back on the bike, with a 6(!) hour training session with teammates in Spain

It feels like only last weekend that Wout van Aert crashed heavily in the freezing cold cyclocross race in Mol. The Belgian rider from Visma | Lease a Bike fractured his ankle in the incident, bringing his winter campaign to an abrupt end. He was still seen wearing a substantial protective boot at the team’s recent media days, but progress since then has been rapid.

In Mol, it looked as though fans would finally get the long-awaited showdown between Van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, the duel everyone had been waiting for all winter. Instead, the race took a dramatic turn. When Van der Poel briefly lost traction, Van Aert reacted sharply, slid out himself and landed awkwardly. The resulting ankle fracture immediately ruled him out for the remainder of the cyclocross season.

Not long ago, Van Aert shared photos of his ankle on Instagram. The first images after the crash showed significant swelling. Surgery was required, and a sizeable screw has since been inserted into the lower leg of the Visma | Lease a Bike leader. At the team’s media days, he was therefore still moving around in a large, supportive walking boot.

The encouraging news was that he had already managed to get back on the bike. Earlier this week, the rider from Herentals completed his first ride since the crash: a 33-kilometre spin on Monday, something he described as a victory in itself. Getting back on the bike so quickly after such a fall was already impressive – but Van Aert has not stopped there. The kilometres are already beginning to add up again.

The following day, Van Aert travelled to Spain, where he completed a ride of just under 60 kilometres. Since then, he has put together three substantial training sessions. Wednesday brought his first ride of more than 100 kilometres, followed a day later by a demanding 144-kilometre effort. On Friday, Van Aert went even further, logging an impressive 184 kilometres, as can be seen on Strava.

Riding alongside his teammates, the Belgian spent around six hours in the saddle. Niklas Behrens, Matteo Jorgenson, Edoardo Affini, Timo Kielich, Christophe Laporte, Loe van Belle and team manager Grischa Niermann were all part of the long training ride. One thing is already clear: Van Aert’s recovery is moving in the right direction.