Wout van Aert will race for the first time since pulling out of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and missing out on the Tour de France with an inflamed elbow next Wednesday at the Tour of Denmark, according to reports in the Flemish media.
The Belgian star had to cancel his participation in the ongoing Tour when what started as an elbow injury from a pre-race training crash at the renamed Dauphiné got worse, as "an infection unexpectedly developed in the wound."
Unable to train properly and having missed altitude camp with his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates, the team decided to refocus his goals for later in the season, notably at the Vuelta a España from August 22. In the weeks since, he's been spotted ramping up his training in Italy, including a six-hour gravel ride near Livigno.
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In the build-up to the Spanish Grand Tour, though, both Het Laatste Nieuws and Het Nieuwsblad reported that Van Aert will race the five stages of the Tour of Denmark from Aalborg to Rødovre, starting on Wednesday, July 29.
Van Aert has competed at the Danish stage race once before in his career, in 2018, when he was still racing for Vérandas Willems-Crelan. He won the race overall on debut, the second stage to Vejle, and helped sprinter Tim Merlier to two stage wins and the points jersey.
Before his elbow issues forced him out of racing, Van Aert had initially struggled at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, before bouncing back with a bunch sprint win on stage 5. It was his second win of the season after the biggest of his career back in April at Paris-Roubaix, where he defeated Tadej Pogačar in the velodrome.
August should see Van Aert's first appearance at the Vuelta a España since his debut in 2024, when he lit up the race with three stage wins, but then crashed out on stage 16 as a season of bad luck continued.
After the Vuelta, Van Aert will look to race at the World Championships for Belgium, where he should make up part of a stacked road race squad assembled to try and take on Pogačar in Montreal, Canada.
