My grandmother was dying in the hospital. I was a junior racer and went to visit her. She said to me, go to your race, think of me and go full gas. I took her words with me and won my first ever jersey. It changed me completely.
I started riding on another level. I won a race on my birthday in Course de la Paix Juniors.
I did not know what my grandmother said to me would prepare me for my life as a professional cyclist.
This year I went to Argentina with good condition and was motivated because I won a stage there last year. Little did I know I would have a completely different experience.
On stage 2, I had a crash. I pretty much broke everything in my face, including three teeth.
The doctor told me I needed to take a year off the bike.
One year!
It felt like the world was falling from under my feet.
He was scared of the damage that could be done if I came back too soon and crashed on my face again. I was walking around for two weeks in total shock, cycling is my job and my life.
After two or three weeks I started riding on the trainer, but I had so much pain in my head. The doctor warned me that would happen. I had to stop. Mentally, it was very hard to deal with.
The team doctors and I took the decision to rest for ten weeks and assess the situation after that.
It was a good moment to take time off the bike because my girlfriend and I had just bought a farmhouse and were building a B&B. There was a lot to do around the house that kept me very busy. It was great because it took my mind off cycling.
Luckily, after ten weeks, my results were good, and I could start riding again.
I worked really hard to come back and was on the start line of a race just over 3 months after Argentina. My first race back was 4 Jours de Dunkerque. Immediately I could feel I wasn’t comfortable in the peloton. The doctor’s words were still in my head on stage one. “We don’t want you to crash on your face.”
Then, it happened. I crashed in the final and broke a ligament in my finger. Here I was back on the first day after a major crash and I was out and had to start all over again.
It was June and I’d only had 3 race days so far.
Then I remembered, after Stig’s crash, I won GP Cerami for him after a 25km solo attack.
But, I am a fighter and know how to come back. I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life that were dramatic. I was there when my teammate Stig Broeckx crashed in 2016 and was in a coma for six months. Losing my grandmother as a junior was tough.
In 2013, my uncle died from cancer. He was the one who inspired me to start cycling. He worked as a trainer and was my manager. When he died, I’d been struggling with a knee injury but I came back in the World Ports Classic to win stage one, solo.
My grandma taught me to take power out of these horrible moments in life and use it on the bike.
Seeing what Stig had to go through was hard for us as a team.
Then, this year, we experienced tragedy words can’t explain.
My teammate Bjorg Lambrecht lost his life in the Tour of Poland.
When you see the photo of me winning Paris-Tours this year and see the emotions I was going through, you maybe now have a small understanding of it.
I can’t tell you how hard I trained for this race. I won it in 2010 as an under 23 and I won it in 2014 as a pro but this time it was different. I had so much more to ride for.
Two days before I did a recon of the route, so I knew exactly what I wanted to do in the race. The first thing was to go as hard as possible on the first of the nine gravel sectors, then see what the damage was.
I was hoping to be in a little group by then but suddenly I was solo. 50km from the finish. I was hoping a small group would catch me, but they didn’t.
I was alone. Except, I wasn’t.
The whole year’s events were going through my mind. I had to fight so much to come back to a good level. I was thinking of Bjorg.
Then I remembered, after Stig’s crash, I won GP Cerami for him after a 25km solo attack. Here I was again with a solo 50km attack, suffering so much. But, you do it for the person who lost their lives or had a bad moment.
Everyone has bad luck in life, and you need to give it a place. You need to take your power out of the terrible situations in life. Thanks, Grandma.
Winning Paris-Tours. What a way to end the season. They were calling me Mister Paris-Tours. 2010. 2014. 2019. I even heard someone say King Paris-Tours. But this wasn’t just for me. It was for my grandma. For my uncle. For Stig. For Bjorg.
