Wout van Aert suffered a "serious" knee injury but no fracture in the crash that ended his involvement in the Vuelta a Espana, the Belgian's Visma-Lease team said on Wednesday.
No broken bones for Wout 🙏
— Road Code (@RoadCode) September 4, 2024
After his La Vuelta Stage 16 crash, Team Visma | Lease a Bike said: "Wout van Aert has not suffered any fractures from his crash in La Vuelta. The three-time stage winner had to withdraw due to severe knee pain caused by a deep wound. That wound… pic.twitter.com/igxAVd1HtX
Van Aert, winner of three stages in the race and leading both the mountain and points classification, was forced to pull out on Tuesday after a heavy fall in the 16th stage.
His team reported: "Wout Van Aert did not suffer a fracture in his fall on the Vuelta.
"The 29-year-old rider did however pick up a serious knee injury requiring intensive medical care."
The team added in the post on social media that Van Aert was eturning to Belgium to continue his recovery.
Van Aert has endured a tough 2024, suffering multiple fractures after a bone-crunching high speed fall in March in the Tour of Flanders which forced him to miss the remaining Spring one-day classics.
But he returned in good form and picked up an Olympic time-trial bronze medal in Paris in July.
Tuesday's latest tumble has thrown into doubt his participation in the road world championships in Zurich at the end of the month.