Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel says ‘long journey’ ahead after accident involving postal van
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Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel claimed gold in the men’s road race and time trial at the Paris Olympics this year.
PHOTO: AFP
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BRUSSELS – Double Olympic road cycling champion Remco Evenepoel says he faces “a long journey” after breaking a hand, rib and shoulder blade when he crashed into the door of a postal van during a training ride on Dec 3.
The 24-year-old Belgian, who won road race and time trial gold at the Paris Olympics, had been preparing for the new season in Oetingen, Belgium.
“After a scary accident on training yesterday, I underwent surgery last night and everything went well,” he wrote on social media.
The post on Dec 4 was accompanied by a photo of Evenepoel in his hospital bed, with his right arm in a sling.
“With a fracture to my rib, shoulder blade, hand, contusions to my lungs and a dislocation of my right clavicle which has caused all surrounding ligaments to be torn, it’s going to be a long journey,” he said.
“But I’m fully focused on my recovery and I’m determined to come back stronger, step by step.”
The boss of Evenepoel’s Soudal Quick-Step team Patrick Lefevere said Evenepoel had called him shortly after the fall, saying a postal worker had opened a door of the stationary van as he cycled past it.
Witnesses to the accident said Evenepoel, a former youth international footballer, lay stricken and ashen-faced but conscious, with the top tube of his bike frame broken in two by the force of the impact.
Quick-Step said he would be off the bike for at least the next two weeks, but it was not immediately clear what impact the injuries would have on his racing plans.
In 2025, Evenepoel plans to compete in one-day races at Milan-San Remo in March and Liege-Bastogne-Liege the following month, as well as July’s Tour de France and possibly the Giro d’Italia, which starts in May.
Evenepoel thanked the emergency services, medical staff and first responders after the accident, while also expressing his support for the postal worker.
“The comeback starts now,” he said.
The rider has a history of dramatic crashes, including plunging into a ravine in Italy in 2020, being brought down in full flight by a dog at the 2023 Giro d’Italia, and early this season, he suffered a high-speed downhill fall during the Tour of the Basque Country.
However, he also won both the individual time trial and the road race at the Paris Olympics this past summer and took the best young rider’s jersey and third place at the Tour de France earlier in July. AFP
