FILE PHOTO: Cycling - UCI World Championships 2023 - Stirling, Scotland, Britain - August 11, 2023 Belgium's Wout van Aert in action during the Men's Elite Road Individual Time Trial REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo
(Reuters) - Wout van Aert suffered several fractures in a crash in Belgium's Dwars door Vlaanderen one-day race, and will miss the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, Team Visma-Lease a Bike said on Wednesday.
Van Aert, one of the favourites to win Wednesday's race, was brought down in a crash 65 kilometres from the finish and the Belgian could be heard screaming in pain as he lay on the ground.
"A broken collarbone and several broken ribs were diagnosed in hospital," Team Visma-Lease a Bike said.
"It is unclear how long his recovery will take. He will definitely miss the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and the Amstel Gold Race."
Van Aert sat out the recent Paris-Nice and Milan-San Remo races, opting instead for a three-week altitude camp in order to peak for Sunday's Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix on April 7.
The Dwars door Vlaanderen was won by Van Aert's American team mate Matteo Jorgenson, winner of the Paris-Nice earlier this month, but his thoughts were with the Belgian.
"It was a very nasty fall, I knew immediately that we had lost Wout," Jorgenson said.
"I hope everyone is okay, and that I'm now not the only remaining contender for the Tour of Flanders. We'll see about that later."
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Davis)
