Remco Evenepoel, a double Olympic champion from Belgium, was transported to a hospital following a training accident that occurred in Belgium on Tuesday.
Reports from local media indicated that the 24-year-old cyclist was unable to avoid colliding with the door of a postal vehicle that had unexpectedly swung open. Although he did not lose consciousness, the impact was significant enough to damage his bicycle’s frame beyond repair.
Images circulating on social media depicted Evenepoel sitting next to an ambulance, covered with a blanket and appearing to hold his arm.
“We are still on our way, but we don’t know much more ourselves,” his father, Patrick Evenepoel, shared with a Belgian newspaper. “He has been taken to the Erasmus hospital in Anderlecht. He has already contacted us, so we hold onto the hope that everything will be alright. From what I understand, he fell after colliding with the door of a Bpost vehicle.”
The incident took place in Oetingen, located around 30 kilometers to the east of Anderlecht.
Evenepoel made history during the Olympic Games in Paris in August when he became the first cyclist to win both the road race and the time trial.
With two world championships under his belt, Evenepoel also claimed victory at the Spanish Vuelta in 2022 and secured a third-place finish in this year’s Tour de France.
Bart De Pelseneer, who operates a butcher shop nearby, recounted, “He was lying on the ground for a while. It was definitely a serious impact. The door of the postal vehicle was completely bent. His bike was completely mangled, almost resembling a folded-up wheelchair.
“When I approached to check on him, he looked extremely pale. The emergency services offered him a Coke. His wife, Oumi, arrived around the same time the emergency crew did.”