Wout van Aert is abandoning the Tour de France after studying that his pregnant spouse’s labor is “imminent.” He’s seen right here earlier this week, ascending Saint-Gervais-les-Bains within the French Alps.

Marco Bertorello/AFP by way of Getty Images

cover caption

toggle caption

Marco Bertorello/AFP by way of Getty Images

Wout van Aert is abandoning the Tour de France after studying that his pregnant spouse’s labor is “imminent.” He’s seen right here earlier this week, ascending Saint-Gervais-les-Bains within the French Alps.

Marco Bertorello/AFP by way of Getty Images

The Tour de France will finish in Paris in just some days — however it should accomplish that with out one in all its most fun riders, as Wout van Aert quits biking’s greatest race to be together with his spouse, Sarah, who’s anticipating their second little one.

“On the one hand it’s a strange feeling but it’s not a dilemma,” Van Aert mentioned in a video asserting his withdrawal. “It’s an easy decision. I always thought that I would go home when my wife indicated that she needed me.”

In this yr’s Tour, Van Aert has been a vital ally of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard on Jumbo-Visma’s eight-man staff, utilizing his distinctive energy and flexibility to place strain on Vingegaard’s prime rival, two-time winner Tadej Pogacar.

But Thursday’s stage 18 started with out Van Aert. He leaves this yr’s version of biking’s landmark occasion with out including to his profession 9 stage wins. Van Aert mentioned that whereas he had hoped to make it to Paris, he is been discussing a possible early exit together with his staff.

“I always thought that I would go home when my wife indicated that she needed me,” the Belgian mentioned. With the household’s physician assessing that labor is imminent, he mentioned, “My place is now at home.”

Van Aert, 28, mentioned his teammates “are 100% behind me,” and he is assured that they will shepherd Vingegaard, who now has a cushty lead of greater than 7 minutes over Pogacar, to the rostrum in Paris.

This yr’s Tour de France introduced an exhilarating duel between Vingegaard and Pogacar, with the 2 most up-to-date champions combating for each second because the highway race headed into its last week. But Vingegaard lastly cemented his benefit within the Alps, in Tuesday’s time trial and Wednesday’s epic mountain stage.

For his half, Van Aert mentioned, “I look back on this Tour in a positive way, but I will always remember this Tour as the one where I called home every day.”