” Still alive! Belgian cycling star Wout Van Aert was reassuring on Thursday after he was almost knocked down by a cement mixer on Tuesday during a training outing. “This kind of incident unfortunately happens almost every day on the road,” reacted the Flemish rider during a press conference for his Jumbo-Visma team, two days before the Tour of Flanders where he will aim for victory. I received many messages from people who were concerned, even from my wife who thought I had been knocked down. But it is okay. Still alive ! “, underlined the Olympic vice-champion by playing down the incident.
On Tuesday, a cement mixer cut off the Jumbo-Visma rider’s route. The one who offered Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday to Christophe Laporte was training in the Netherlands with Jan Bakelants, a young retiree and former wearer of the yellow jersey on the Tour de France, and cyclo-cross rider Daan Soete.
“Wout had split exercises to do but the bike path was not suitable for this place to reach speeds of 40 to 45 km / h, said Bakelants on Wednesday on the Flemish channel Sporza. So he joined the road. Five minutes later, I heard a honk, and a cement mixer came up to us. The driver then made a fish tail, while continuing to honk. Wout almost found himself under the truck, it was very impressive. »
To avoid the concrete mixer, Van Aert then moved to his right, pushing Dan Soete towards the ditch. “Otherwise he might have died,” insisted Bakelants. “It was a dangerous situation, but cyclists often experience this unfortunately, added to RTBF, the former wearer of the yellow jersey on the Tour de France. 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. There are other ways to let us know you don’t like what we’re doing. A cyclist, as a reminder, is a human being who is not protected by a steel cabin. »
In November, Italian Davide Rebellin, who had just retired, died on his bike after being hit by a truck. In 2017, another Italian champion, Michele Scarponi, also died after being hit by a van whose driver was watching a video on his smartphone.