Van Aert, how scary: he risks being run over by a cement mixer while training

Wout Van Aert he had a decidedly bad time in training around Antwerp at the start of the week leading up to the Tour of Flanders. According to the story of Jan Bakelants, who was with him, what happened could have had tragic results. Van Aert was engaged in a training session at 40 average on a wide provincial road straddling the border between Belgium and the Netherlands. But after a few minutes, a cement mixer appeared behind him and began honking its horn until it cut him off just as he was overtaking.

“I know from experience that the Dutch do not hesitate to take justice into their own hands when they see a cyclist who is not pedaling on the cycle lane – said Bakelants -. Like a hit-and-run driver that man cut us off. Wout was riding alongside Daan Soete, who was with us, and had no choice but to push him aside. The action of that concrete mixer was completely out of proportion“.

The provincial road was flanked by a cycle path, but professionals can hardly use them during their training sessions. “Although as a concrete mixer driver you feel you have more rights to drive on concrete roads than cyclists, the cycle path was severely degraded at the time. Wout was on the brink of death. I literally saw him under the cement mixer”.

Van Aert had had a similar experience on the Brianza roads on the eve of Sanremo: “The worst training of my life” he wrote on social media.