Wout van Aert misses the Tour de France after complications from an elbow injury
Wout van Aert will not compete in the 2026 Tour de France after the elbow injury he sustained in a training crash ahead of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was complicated by a wound infection. Team Visma | Lease a Bike announced on 17 June 2026 that the Belgian cyclist would not be included in the Tour lineup because his recovery had not progressed quickly enough for him to be at the required level at the start of the race. The decision was made after consultations between Van Aert, the medical staff and the coaching team, and the team emphasized that full recovery is the priority. Thus, the initial uncertainty surrounding his participation turned into an officially confirmed absence from the biggest race of the season.
The Belgian rider had previously withdrawn from the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, a preparatory race in France, the day after winning the fifth stage in the final sprint in Villars-les-Dombes. According to his team’s announcement, Van Aert felt increasing difficulties related to the wound on his elbow during that race, which is why he returned to Belgium for additional examinations. Team Visma | Lease a Bike subsequently stated that an infection had unexpectedly developed in the wound, that the wound was cleaned again in hospital and that Van Aert spent one night under observation. Such a development disrupted the final phase of preparations at a time when a little more than two weeks remained before the start of the Tour de France.
From a stage victory to medical examinations in Belgium
Van Aert’s appearance at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes had a markedly uneven course. The official race website states that the fifth stage, held on 11 June 2026 from Saint-Chamond to Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes, was 195.8 kilometres long and ended with an opportunity for sprinters. Van Aert used that opportunity with a powerful acceleration in the finale and delivered victory for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, ahead of Hugo Hofstetter and Phil Bauhaus. After the stage, the team emphasized that his teammates kept the race under control, worked at the head of the main group and, in the final kilometres, brought Van Aert into a favourable position for the sprint.
The victory itself, however, did not remove the concern caused by the training crash several days before the start of the race. According to the team’s announcement, Van Aert came to France with the consequences of the crash, and during the race the discomfort in the elbow area worsened. The day after the stage celebration he did not appear at the start of the sixth stage, and the initial explanation was that he was still feeling considerable pain related to the injury. The return to Belgium for additional medical examinations proved decisive because it was then determined that recovery would not be fast enough for a safe and competitive appearance at the Tour.
In its official statement, Team Visma | Lease a Bike said that the infection occurred during the race, after the wound on the elbow was already an open consequence of the training crash. The team did not present the problem as ordinary sporting discomfort that could be ignored in the short term, but as a medical complication requiring a calmer approach. Van Aert said that missing the Tour de France was “a great disappointment” because that race is one of his main goals every year. He added that at this moment it is not realistic to arrive at the start in top form and that he is now focusing on recovery and returning to his best level later in the season.
Visma without one of its most important riders
Van Aert’s absence is a significant sporting blow for Team Visma | Lease a Bike because he is one of the most versatile riders in the professional peloton. The team’s official profile states that since joining the then Jumbo-Visma in 2019 he has won races such as Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo, Amstel Gold Race, Gent-Wevelgem and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, as well as stages of Grand Tours. The team describes him as a rider who can be useful in the sprint, in classics, in the time trial and in difficult stages, which explains why his absence is sensitive precisely in the three-day and three-week dynamics of the Tour de France.
Race coach Marc Reef, according to the announcement by Team Visma | Lease a Bike, said that Van Aert is one of the team’s most important riders and that the squad “would obviously love to have him at the start of the Tour”. Reef emphasized that all possibilities had been considered in recent days, but that the assessment that health must come first prevailed. In the context of the Tour de France, such a decision has a double meaning. On the one hand, the team loses a rider who can seek stage opportunities on his own; on the other, it remains without an important tactical support in finishes, transition stages, windy sections and time trials.
Van Aert’s value for Visma’s structure is not only in the number of victories. In races such as the Tour, position in the peloton, the ability to control the tempo, protection of the leader and reaction to changes of rhythm are important, and Van Aert has often taken on exactly such tasks in previous seasons. His strength in flat and hilly stages could have been particularly useful in the opening part of the 2026 Tour, which according to the official programme begins with a team time trial in Barcelona. Without him, Visma will have to distribute responsibilities differently among the remaining candidates for the lineup, and the final selection will now be shaped without a rider who usually had a broad tactical role.
The 2026 Tour de France begins on 4 July in Barcelona
According to the official Tour de France website, the 2026 edition will take place from 4 to 26 July and will begin in Barcelona. The organizer states that this is the 113th edition of the race and the third start of the Tour in Spain, after San Sebastián in 1992 and Bilbao in 2023. The first stage will be a 19.7-kilometre Barcelona – Barcelona team time trial, with a route that includes riding along the sea, passing close to the Sagrada Família and final climbs towards the Montjuïc area. The day before the start, on 2 July, the official programme provides for the presentation of the teams in front of the Sagrada Família.
The official route description states that after the Grand Départ the race will return to France and finish in Paris. In France, the 2026 Tour will pass through seven regions and 29 departments, and the programme includes 21 stages, two rest days, seven flat stages, four hilly stages, eight mountain stages, one team time trial and one individual time trial. The organizer particularly highlights five summit finishes, among them Gavarnie-Gèdre, Plateau de Solaison, Orcières-Merlette and two arrivals at Alpe d’Huez. Such a race profile means that teams will have to carefully balance the fight for the general classification, risk control and opportunities for stage victories from the very first week.
For Van Aert, precisely that schedule further emphasized the importance of the final preparations. The team time trial at the opening of the Tour particularly rewards the cohesion and strength of the entire lineup, and the Belgian rider usually brings a combination of experience, high intensity and the ability to maintain position within Visma’s system. After the wound infection and hospital treatment, the team assessed that such a workload would not be reasonable. The official decision is not only a question of appearing at the start, but an assessment of whether the rider can enter a three-week race sufficiently recovered to withstand the intensity and at the same time be useful to the team.
The race in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes revealed both form and problem
The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the race that in 2026 took over the role of a major French test ahead of the Tour de France, ended on 14 June with victory for Isaac Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates XRG, according to the organizer’s official information. Although Van Aert was not a contender for the general classification, his victory in the fifth stage showed that even after a difficult start to the race he could be competitive in finishes. That is precisely why the news of his withdrawal the day after the victory carried additional weight. In the same week, two opposing signals appeared: a sporting one, which said that his speed and finishing punch had not disappeared, and a medical one, which showed that the wound did not allow a normal continuation of preparations.
According to Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s official report on the fifth stage, Van Aert emphasized after the victory that winning a stage in such a difficult race is always important, especially after a demanding start. The team also emphasized the collective work at that time, including controlling the breakaway and organizing in the finale. But already the next day, sporting logic had to give way to medical assessment. In professional cycling, where loads accumulate quickly, infection and pain in the area of support on the bicycle can affect both training and body position, so the decision to rest does not mean only absence from one race, but a change to the entire final preparation plan.
Van Aert’s case shows how quickly the status of a rider who until yesterday seemed to be a certain part of the plan can change ahead of a Grand Tour. Even after the stage victory there was talk of a possible confidence boost before the Tour, while the official announcement of 17 June confirmed that the plan had to be abandoned. For Visma | Lease a Bike, it is now crucial to reorganize the lineup and define tasks more clearly without a rider who could cover several roles. For Van Aert, the priority is simpler but uncertain in terms of timing: heal the injury, avoid additional complications and return to racing only when recovery is complete.
What the absence means for the rest of the season
Team Visma | Lease a Bike has so far emphasized in its official statement only that Van Aert will not be part of the selection for the Tour de France and that he is turning to recovery. No detailed plan for his return has been announced, nor any possible new date for his next appearance. Such caution is expected because, with infections and wounds that heal slowly, the sporting schedule usually has to adapt to the medical course, not the other way around. Van Aert said in his statement that he wants to reach his best level again later in the season, but the team did not specify when that might happen.
For the 2026 Tour de France, his absence is now a confirmed fact, not just a question mark over preparations. This changes the tone ahead of the start in Barcelona, especially for a team that had counted on his versatility in one of the most demanding races on the calendar. In the wider peloton, Visma’s decision will also be viewed as an example of how top teams act when sporting goals collide with medical risk immediately before a Grand Tour. In this case, the team’s message remained clear: Van Aert’s recovery takes priority over an attempt to reach the start on 4 July at any cost.
Sources:
- Team Visma | Lease a Bike – official announcement on Wout van Aert’s absence from the Tour de France due to an elbow injury (link)
- Team Visma | Lease a Bike – official report on Van Aert’s victory in the fifth stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (link)
- Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – official page of the fifth stage Saint-Chamond – Parc des Oiseaux / Villars-les-Dombes (link)
- Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – official race website and final information on the 2026 edition (link)
- Tour de France – official route of the 2026 Tour de France (link)
- Tour de France – official information on the Grand Départ in Barcelona 2026 (link)
- Team Visma | Lease a Bike – official profile of Wout van Aert and overview of his results with the team (link)