During a training outing, Wout van Aert almost got knocked down by a cement mixer, says Jan Bakelants, who shared the road with him that day. The Belgian champion could have stayed there.
Wout van Aert escaped a terrible tragedy. The star of the Jumbo-Visma team almost suffered a terrible accident while training in the Netherlands for the Tour of Flanders. It was former runner Jan Bakelants, who shared the road with him that day, who told Sporza about the scene.
« Wout had to do an interval but the cycle path on this road was not suitable for speeds around 40 to 45 km/h, says the former AG2R team rider, who explains why the trio he formed with Van Aert and cyclocrossman Daan Soete left the cycle path to join the road reserved for cars. From experience, I know that the Dutch do not hesitate to take the law into their own hands when they see a cyclist who is not riding on the cycle path. »
“If Wout van Aert had fallen to the left, he would be dead by now”
This is what happened after a few minutes, when Bakelants heard a honk. It was a concrete mixer in a bit of a hurry, who overtook Van Aert and his companions without respecting the safety distances. ” VSLike a real speeder, the driver of the cement mixer closed the road to our small group, while continuing to honk his horn. Wout almost ended up under the truck, it was very impressive,” says Bakelants.
”Wout was almost dead, it was scary”: Did Van Aert come close to disaster in training before the Tour of Flanders? https://t.co/AqPflABKiT pic.twitter.com/YkEyyudfzG
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Joined later by RTBF, the former wearer of the yellow jersey on the Tour de France wants to take the opportunity to send a message of caution. ” He was really aggressive, we were pushed into the grass, the ditch, continues Jan Bakelants. It was a dangerous situation, but cyclists experience this often unfortunately. Motorists are still not used to sharing the road: for them, attending races is good, but seeing cyclists train on these same roads is not so good! The message I wanted to convey is the following: even if cyclists are on the road rather than on the cycle path, it is a disproportionate reaction. If Wout van Aert had fallen to the left, he would be dead by now. »
