Wout Van Aert won't start the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. A crash in this week's 'Through Flanders', which serves as a dress rehearsal for Sunday's monumental race, has ruled Wout Van Aert out of Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

Last week was a record-breaking one; in France, on Sunday, half the peloton hit the ground on the Roue Tourangelle and scraped off skin. On Wednesday, there was another massive crash on the Paris-Camembert, with several riders going down, including Jason Tesson, who had won the Roue Tourangelle a few days earlier.

Most importantly, Wednesday's massive crash at the Tour of Flanders left several riders seriously injured, including Van Aert, who will miss Sunday's Tour of Flanders, next weekend's Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d'Italia in a month's time.

The Visma rider will be sidelined for several weeks. He underwent a "successful" operation in his home town of Herentals on Wednesday evening. "He will not going to race the Giro d'Italia (in May). He will make a decision in the coming weeks, depending on the progress of his recovery," Visma added, as quoted by AFP. 

Van Aert, known for his cyclocross career, is one of the best riders in the world, but at 60 kilometres per hour everything happens very quickly. A short time later, Belgian rider Jasper Stuyven was in the same hospital being treated for a broken collarbone sustained in the same crash. "We'll have a coffee in the morning," Stuyven, winner of the Milan-San Remo in 2021, told Belgian newspaper HLN.

Lidl-Trek teammate Alex Kirsch broke his hand. Team leader Mads Pedersen barely escaped with scratches. Another classic favourite who, like his teammates, could be out for the season with a crash. 

Few races end with a clean bill of health. Sénéchal, Rui Costa, Johannessen, Lemmen, Capiot, Ackermann, Kelderman and Gee are all on the list of broken collarbones in the last month alone. For them, months of preparation have come to an abrupt end. .

Visma added, as quoted by AFP. Van Aert is best known for his cyclocross career. He is one of the best riders on the bike. But at sixty kilometres per hour everything happens very quickly.

Few races end with a clean bill of health. In the last month alone the list of broken collarbones has included Sénéchal, Rui Costa, Johannessen, Lemmen, Capiot, Ackermann, Kelderman and Gee. For them, months of preparation came to an abrupt end. Everything disappears in the blink of an eye.

Cycling is made more dangerous by urban furniture designed to slow down car traffic (such as potholes and speed bumps). It's a minefield for cyclists. French cyclist Benoir Cosnefroy explains it well: "In a car, we enter city centres at 30 km/h. On a bike, we reach 60 km/h. That says it all".

Jan Bakelants, former wearer of the Tour de France yellow jersey and current commentator for the Belgian media Sporza, who is close to Belgian cyclist Van Aert, proposes the use of "a kind of airbag placed on the back, like in skiing. We need measures to mitigate the consequences of a fall," he added.

The latter is very difficult to achieve in a sport where engineers are trying to eliminate weight everywhere, to make the thinnest of garments snug against the skin. Even in the nineties, when helmets were made compulsory, there was an outcry. It took a while for cyclists to accept this measure for their safety. 

Cyclists have learned to live with the physical and psychological damage caused by crashes. The Frenchman Pierre Latour, for example, is unable to overcome his fear of descents, just like the Spaniard Enric Mas, a leader who is hampered by his inefficiency in this exercise. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot had to be helped to overcome his fears. 

World champion in 2020 and 2021, Julian Alaphilippe, who crashed heavily into a tree in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2022, admits that he is "a little bit more scared" than he used to be. "When you hear a big crash not far away from you, the sound of the carbon breaking, the people screaming... We're all scared. Cosnefroy says: "I don't know a cyclist who isn't afraid."