Experienced expert Boonen knows the consequences of the Van Aert crash: ‘It is also unfortunate for Van der Poel’

The fall of Wout van Aert leaves deep marks towards the Tour of Flanders. The Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike broke numerous bones on Wednesday in a high-speed fall in Dwars door Vlaanderen. Round winners Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra know the feeling, as they also had to miss High Mass after a crash earlier in the spring.

Boonen told his story Cycling club Wattage. ‘That just happens, it’s the race. There are no certainties in life, we see that again. You can do everything as it should be for six months, but then you still have no certainty. That has now become painfully clear once again. It really is a blow to the table,” he says about Van Aert’s fall on Wednesday.

Boonen, as an expert, dismisses the suggestion that the descent towards the Kanarieberg would be too dangerous. ‘These are dangerous matches, but it can happen anywhere. There are thirty or forty similar situations… wherever you ride at speed with a pack of riders, it remains dangerous,” the ex-cyclist from Mol qualifies.

Boonen and Terpstra know the tricks of the trade in terms of falls before the Tour of Flanders

As a big star, Boonen dropped out of the Tour of Flanders in 2013 and had to miss the High Mass and the rest of the classic spring in 2015 after a crash in Paris-Nice. He now knows what Van Aert has to go through in the hospital in Herentals and asks his fellow countrymen. ‘We have to leave him alone, he’s not going to be in a good mood. Those are not the nicest times… you are in the hospital and there are twenty photographers waiting outside. We better leave him.’

Terpstra had to miss the Tour of Flanders in 2011 after a crash in the Three Days De Panne. He also shares his story from back then. ‘The Ronde is perhaps the most important race of the year, one of the most important. That’s what you live for and everything has been for Jan Joker, you feel that at that moment. That’s not true, but that’s how it feels. A depressed feeling,” said the Dutchman, who also does not have the prescription. “Serve time and watch the race with pain in the heart, that is what you can do,” he says in his Speed ​​on Wheels podcast.

Van Aert’s absence will also leave a mark on Sunday’s Tour, according to Boonen. ‘I also feel sorry for Mathieu Van der Poel. After last weekend I thought we would have a tough race. Everyone always grows a little towards De Ronde and Lidl-Trek had a strong team. Now we will have a completely different match. The pressure is entirely on Alpecin-Deceuninck and the racing will start early.’