Wout van Aert was first in both points and mountains at the Vuelta a España, but was forced to retire with a knee injury. On Wednesday, he walked 2.74 km with his partner Sara de Bie and proudly posted his record on Strava.

On September 3, Van Aat fell on a rainy descent of stage 16 of Lagos de Covadonga, bruising a bone near his knee.

It was the second major blow of the season for the Belgian, who suffered multiple fractures in a fall at Doire de Vlaanderen in March.

Van Aert returned to the Tour de France but missed out on a stage win, finishing third in the opening stage and second in the sprints of stages 12 and 13. After winning a bronze medal in the Olympic time trial, he returned to form and won three stages at the Vuelta a España, but ended up crashing out.

He told Dernier Heure magazine last week that his new rehab is difficult, but there is a bright side. He won the Kuhne Brussel Kuhne and placed third in the Het Nieuwsblad and E3.”

“I think my form in the Vuelta was the best since the 2022 Tour de France. This is very important mentally and going forward.”

“It's important to put everything relative, it wasn't my best season and I had a lot of setbacks. But I am very proud of what I was able to do.”

Visma Lease-a-Bike must have agreed to extend the contract until Juan Art decided to retire.

“The team took the initiative and showed confidence in breaking my contract,” Van Art said last week. 'For me, they definitely wanted to extend my contract.'

“But in the meantime I turned 30 years old. So we decided together to not put an end to my career and make a long-term commitment. I think that's pretty cool and I'm proud of that.”

”I don't have to worry about contracts or transfers anymore. I know the team, I know how they do things, I know every inch of the team. From now on it's just cycling for me.”