Remco Evenepoel says he has a “long journey” ahead of him after colliding with a postal van

Two-time Olympic road cycling champion Remco Evenepoel said on Wednesday he had a “long journey ahead” after breaking a hand, ribs and a shoulder blade in a collision with the door of a mail van during a training ride.

The 24-year-old Belgian, who won gold in the road race and time trial at this year’s Paris Olympics, was taken to hospital on Tuesday after hitting the open door of a stationary van while preparing for the new season in Brussels.

Evenepoel focused on recovery

“After a terrible training accident yesterday, I had surgery last night and everything went well,” Evenepoel wrote on social media.

Accompanying the message was a picture of Evenepoel in his hospital bed, his right arm in a sling.

“With a fracture to my rib, scapula, hand, a bruise to my lung and a dislocation of my right collarbone that has caused all the surrounding ligaments to tear, it’s going to be a long road,” he said.

“But I am fully focused on my recovery and am determined to come back stronger, step by step.”

“The comeback begins now,” he added.

Details of the incident

Later on Wednesday, Evenepoel spoke in more detail about the incident on Belgian television.

“The accident happened pretty quickly,” Evenepoel told VTM. “I saw the woman from Bpost open her door. I managed to distance myself, but I hit the door and was catapulted to the other side of the street.”

“I will need time to recover. I won’t be able to do much in the first month. Then we will assess the damage,” he added.

Hit hard by the fall

Evenepoel is no stranger to dramatic falls and fell off his bike into a concrete ditch during the Tour of the Basque Country in April.

“It hurts a lot more than after my crash in the Tour of the Basque Country,” he said. “It hit hard, especially my collarbone.”

Evenepoel’s Soudal Quick-Step team boss Patrick Lefevere said the Belgian rider, one of the highest-paid cyclists in the world, called him shortly after the crash.

Witnesses to the accident said Evenepoel, a former international youth soccer player, lay exhausted and ashen-faced but conscious, and the top tube of his bicycle frame had broken in two from the force of the impact.

Impact on 2025 racing plans

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 next season.

In 2025, Evenepoel plans to take part in the one-day races Milan-San Remo in March and Liège-Bastogne-Liège the following month, as well as the Tour de France in July and possibly the Giro d’Italia, which starts in May.

Evenepoel thanked the emergency services, medical personnel and those who first arrived at the scene after the accident, while expressing his support for the postal worker.