Belgian cycling star Wout van Aert will miss July's Tour de France because of an elbow injury, his team Visma-Lease a Bike said on Wednesday.
He won the Paris-Roubaix classic in April but a fall in training this month, along with an infection once he started the subsequent Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, has ruled him out of the sport's greatest race. He even had to spend a night in hospital.
“This is of course a big disappointment," he said in a statement.
The 31-year-old would have been a major asset at the Tour to team mate and overall contender Jonas Vingegaard.
The news is therefore a boost to Vingegaard's great rival Tadej Pogačar.
