Van Aert Out Of The Tour de France As An Infected Elbow Wound Ends His Build-Up
Wout van Aert will not ride the 2026 Tour de France, his team has confirmed, after a persistent elbow injury failed to clear in time for the Grand Depart. It is a hugely significant withdrawal for Visma-Lease a Bike and for Jonas Vingegaard, who arrives at the race chasing the rare Giro d'Italia–Tour de France double.
The root of the problem is an infection on an elbow wound the Belgian sustained in a training crash before the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes. Van Aert abandoned that race and then skipped the start of the team's pre-Tour training camp earlier this week, two warning signs that had already raised serious concern about his condition. With the wound failing to heal cleanly, the team have now made the call to leave him out of their selection entirely.
For years, Van Aert has been one of Visma's most decisive figures at the Tour, his value reaching far beyond his own results. As a deluxe domestique he was central to Vingegaard's two yellow jerseys, controlling the bunch, covering moves across every kind of terrain and appearing in the decisive moments of the GC battle. Replacing that breadth of capability at short notice is close to impossible.
His record in the race underlines the loss. Across his Tour appearances the Belgian has collected time-trial victories, high-mountain stage wins and bunch sprints alike — a versatility almost unique in the modern peloton. In 2021 he famously won a mountain stage, a time trial and a sprint in the same edition, a feat that placed him in a very select group in the sport's history.
Van Aert has also delivered some of the race's most memorable individual moments, none more so than his win on the final stage of the 2025 Tour in Paris after a high-level duel with Tadej Pogacar, a finish that confirmed his status as a clutch performer under maximum pressure. Losing a rider of that calibre, capable of winning on any profile while still doing the bulk of the protective work, leaves a structural hole in the squad.
The timing could hardly be worse. Visma have built their entire anti-Pogacar model around having both Vingegaard and Van Aert on the road and on form, and the team must now reshuffle their plans around the Dane and his remaining lieutenants with the Grand Depart fast approaching. With Pogacar already looking imperious at the Tour de Suisse, the Belgian's absence sharpens the sense that the challenge to the world champion in July has just become significantly harder.