Wout van Aert is back training; Strava data shows it's going well: 'Mountains are calling'

The Tour de France kicks off on Friday, and we’ve known for a while now that Wout van Aert won’t be there. The Visma | Lease a Bike star had an infected elbow wound and, as a result, would not have recovered in time for the Tour de France. The Belgian is now back on his bike, and things seem to be going well.

Let’s go back to June 12, when Van Aert was suddenly missing from the start of the sixth stage of the Dauphiné. Just a day earlier, the Belgian had won the sprint at the Vogelpark in Villars-les-Dombes, which made this news all the more surprising. The reason was reportedly a sore elbow.

It eventually became clear that it wasn't just a sore elbow. The Belgian was even admitted to the hospital for one night, which made it clear fairly quickly that he wouldn’t recover in time for the Tour de France. Davide Piganzoli became his somewhat surprising replacement.

On June 21, nine days after his withdrawal from the French stage race, Van Aert was already back on his bike, this time for a good cause. Since then, we have seen an activity appear on his Strava almost every day. Tuesday's activity was promising. 'Recovery going well, mountains are calling,' read the title. Who, what, and where remains unclear.

What is clear, however, is that the Belgian is back in full training, as another activity appeared online on Wednesday. Van Aert set off just after 7 a.m. for a training ride of 109.3 kilometers. He completed it in just over 3 hours, which was good for an average speed of 35.7 kilometers per hour.