Tour de France 2019: Wout Van Aert’s horror crash on Stage 13

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Belgian rookie Wout Van Aert won stage 10 of the Tour de France on Monday as Julian Alaphilippe extended his overall lead after a blistering late charge split the peloton.

But his tour was ended in the most horrific way when he collided with the barriers on Stage 13 during Friday’s individual time trial. The Belgian clipped the barriers on the side of the road after taking a corner too sharply.

Van Aert was treated by paramedics on the side of the course and later taken to hospital. The extent of his injuries wasn’t known at the time of writing, but paramedics reported that he was fully conscious. Television commentators noted it looked like the young rider had severe lacerations on his leg.

His team later said he had suffered a “flesh wound”.

🇫🇷#TDF2019
.@WoutvanAert unfortunately has to abandon the race after his crash. He is conscious and has a flesh wound at his right upper leg.

— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) July 19, 2019

The Belgian was second in the time trial classification on Stage 13 before being forced to abandon the tour.

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• The 2019 riders ranked from youngest to oldest

Simon Yates is over an hour adrift in the overall standings, but punched the air in joy after outwitting his rivals to add this Tour de France stage to victories in the Vuelta and Giro.

It’s been a tour loaded with high drama.

Australian Rohan Dennis said his abrupt withdrawal from the Tour de France was the ‘right decision’ ahead of Friday’s time-trial, the discipline at which he is world champion.

Dennis won the 2018 world time trial road race at Innsbruck in November, beating Dutch ace Tom Dumoulin and world one-hour track record holder Belgian Victor Campenaerts in third.

The 29-year-old from Adelaide also won the time-trial in June’s Tour de Suisse, finishing the race second overall behind Colombia’s Egan Bernal.

The Bahrain Merida rider threw in the towel at the start of the Peyresourde, the first of two climbs on Thursday’s 12th stage, after he had been busy trying to make the early breakaway.

Dennis released a statement overnight Thursday in which he did not address the reasons for his withdrawal during the 12th stage on Thursday but suggested they were not physical.

“I am very disappointed to leave the race at this point,” said Dennis, who has won stages on all three Grand Tours.

“The individual time-trial tomorrow (Friday) had been a big goal for me and the team, but given my current feeling it was the right decision to withdraw earlier today.

“I wish my teammates the very best for the remainder of the race and would like to thank all the Tour de France fans who cheered for me, at home and on the roadside, since Brussels.”

“I will hopefully be back competing in this great race again over the coming seasons.”

Tour de France 2019: Stage 13

Distance: 27,2km
Profile: The sole individual time-trial for 2019 looks set to favour the power merchants.

Prediction

We refuse to predict anything. See it as our rest day.

How to watch and start time

The action will be live on SuperSport 5 from 13:50 and should finish at around 18:00. If you don’t have a Dstv subscription, you can follow Le Tour’s YouTube channel for all the highlights.

Or follow our updates for key events below.