Cycling Racing News and Opinion
August 12, 2014

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories

Lotto-Belisol Rider Frederik Willems to Have Surgery

Here's Lotto-Belisol's press release on the rider's upcoming surgery:

Frederik Willems, who crashed in training on Sunday the 3rd of August, will undergo surgery of the collarbone tomorrow in the hospital of Herentals. The broken plate, that was placed after his crash in 2011, will be replaced. Abrasions prevented surgery up till now.

On Wednesday there will also be an MRI scan of his right knee. Frederik also suffers from rib fractures, a shoulder blade fracture and he had a concussion. He doesn't remember anything from the crash.

Frederik Willems: "The first days I had a lot of pain, that's under control now. Because of the crash I had abrasions on my back, one of those reached to the place of my operation in 2011. The risk of infection was too big to undergo surgery in the first days after the crash. The wounds heal well, that's why the surgery can take place on Wednesday. According to doctor Toon Claes I have to take into account a recovery period of two months after the operation. If it only depends on the collarbone fracture I will be on the bike after about three weeks. It will be very difficult to participate in races this season."

"I can't remember the crash. I was unconscious for a while afterwards. I had planned to pull five short sprints that day. I can remember until the fourth one, from then on all my memories are gone. No idea what caused the crash. We can exclude problems with the bike. A group of cyclists found me, luckily one of them was a doctor."

"I was devastated after the crash. I already crashed this year in the Three Days De Panne-Koksijde, where I incurred a collarbone fracture as well. It took a while to be back on a good level. Then I rode a strong national championship, that was a positive sign. In the period without races that followed I did a training camp. Normally I would start in the Eneco Tour. Now I'm looking forward to the operation and the start of my rehabilitation to get the feeling things are moving."

Frederik Willems riding the first stage of the Dauphiné in June of 2014. Photo ©Sirotti

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories