Wout van Aert Nearly Got Sepsis. Here's How His Tour de France Hopes Ended in a Hospital.

Wout van Aert is out of the Tour de France with an infected elbow, but it could have been a lot worse for the Belgian superstar.

Speaking Wednesday to Sporza, Visma’s head of performance Mathieu Heijboer revealed Van Aert only narrowly dodged sepsis when a wound in his elbow blew up with an infection that ultimately forced him out of both the Dauphiné and the Tour de France.

“Wout’s elbow was already swollen when he abandoned the Tour Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes on Friday. There were already signs of inflammation,” Heijboer told Sporza.

“Wout went home and was examined at the hospital and put on a course of antibiotics. But instead of the inflammation getting better, it only got worse,” Heijboer continued.

“There was an abscess on his elbow — it was completely red. Wout had a fever and could no longer move that elbow.”

Heijboer revealed Van Aert received multiple treatments to clean his elbow at the hospital in Herentals, Belgium.

Medics feared sepsis.

This is an extreme condition provoked by the immune system overreacting to an extreme infection. It can lead to total-body inflammation and organ failure.

By Monday, Van Aert was on the brink. His elbow was treated again and he spent the night in the ward.

“The wound was surgically cleaned during a check-up on Monday,” Heijboer said. “That intervention was truly necessary. Otherwise, there was the possibility of sepsis. The situation was extremely serious.”

Van Aert said in a team statement on Wednesday that missing the Tour de France was a bitter blow.

After beating Tadej Pogačar at Paris-Roubaix and winning a stage in the Rhônes-Alpes, he was poised to play a crucial role for Jonas Vingegaard.

Van Aert could have been contending with much more than disappointment if he hadn’t been treated, fast.

For once, cycling’s most unlucky rider saw a tiny bit of a break.

An innocuous crash by Van Aert spiraled into crisis for Visma

According to Heijboer, it’s unknown how Van Aert’s elbow became infected.

When the 31-year-old showed up to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with a bandaged elbow, the Belgian laughed it off. He had crashed while training, and the injury was under control.

However, it didn’t stay that way. Belgian pundits theorized Van Aert’s elbow was dirtied as he hunched into the aero bars of his time trial bike on Tuesday’s stage 3 TTT.

Two days and a stage-win later, the wound ballooned in size and was causing significant pain.

“The bacterial infection developed during the race. There was no cause for concern prior to that,” Heijboer said in a separate interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. “How did the bacteria get in? That’s a mystery.

“At one point, it was a very serious situation. He wouldn’t have been admitted to hospital otherwise.”

‘Vingegaard is extremely disappointed’

Van Aert was discharged from hospital on Tuesday but is checking in daily for intravenous antibiotics — the most extreme treatment for infection possible.

Heijboer told HLN the drugs kicked in fast and that Van Aert saw rapid improvement. However, there was no question that Visma’s prime superdomestique would start the Tour de France on July 4.

The team broke the bad news on Wednesday.

“Our first concern is Wout’s health. We didn’t want to create a situation of high pressure where he had to make it to the Tour,” Heijboer told HLN. “It was a difficult decision, but at the same time an easy one.

“There wasn’t much doubt about whether or not to start — the situation was very clear. But the disappointment remains enormous.”

Visma-Lease a Bike will confirm next week who will fill in for Van Aert at the Tour de France.

Sepp Kuss, Matteo Jorgenson, Victor Campenaerts, Bruno Armirail, Edoardo Affini, and Per Strand Hagenes have long been expected to be part of the Visma’s eight-rider Tour roster.

Ben Tulett, Wilco Keldermen, and Bart Lemmen are reported to be among those in line to replace Van Aert.

They’re all top-caliber riders.

But in reality, there’s no replacing Van Aert.

“Jonas [Vingegaard] is also extremely disappointed, because he knows the role Wout played for him in the past in winning the yellow jersey,” Heijboer said Wednesday. “He is an irreplaceable link.”

Van Aert is now thinking forward to the Vuelta a España and September’s Montréal road world championships.