Wout van Aert's training partner breaks elbow in collision, Van Aert himself narrowly avoids crashing

One minute you’re training with Wout van Aert on dirt trails in Livigno, and the next you’re at home with a broken elbow. Stan Dewulf (Decathlon CMA CGM) explained in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad that he was hit by a van driver during a training session, and that it apparently wasn’t an accident.

Dewulf shared his story from Ghent, with a sling around his shoulder. Things went wrong during a training camp in France, where he met Van Aert. After the outing with the Belgian rider from Visma | Lease a Bike, Dewulf rejoined his teammates in the Alps. “There were six of us out riding around the Les Arcs ski resort. Everything was going perfectly fine,” he said.

"Until a delivery van decided to pass us on a straight stretch of road," said Dewulf, who saw the van veer too quickly back to the right after passing. "Pierre (Gautherat, ed.) was in the lead and had no choice but to swerve abruptly, Leo (Bisiaux, ed.), who was driving next to him, slammed on the brakes in a panic, and I—who was driving behind them—got stuck, grazed a rear wheel, and hit the ground.”

According to Dewulf, the driver kept driving, which, in his view, suggested that the Frenchman might have been acting deliberately. “Senseless violence,” is how the victim, who was in “shock,” described it. “There was absolutely no reason for it. We hadn’t even seen that van yet; it really came out of nowhere.”

The news comes during a week in which two riders in the Tour de France were also struck by a car off the course. Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Xandro Meurisse (Pinarello-Q36.5) were struck by cars on their way to and from their time trial on Tuesday. Meurisse, in particular, suspected foul play, as a car simply struck him from behind.

According to Dewulf, he had also nearly been the victim of a collision during the aforementioned ride with Van Aert in Livigno. “Back then, too, a driver almost ran us into the mountainside; luckily, we both steered to the right at the same time, just in time,” said the Belgian, commenting on the rise in aggressive driving. A teammate took a photo of the van’s license plate.