Last Friday, a press conference was held in the Sports Medical Centre “Nottebohm Fitlab” in Brecht regarding the crash of Kris Boeckmans, the consequences and the recovery. Boechmans talked to the press exactly 41 days after his hard crash in the eighth stage of the Vuelta a España.

The medical bulletin after this crash was considerable: several facial fractures, a heavy concussion and a torn lung. Boechmans remained in an artificial coma for almost two weeks, before they flew him back to Belgium. Today, he is – step by step – working on his comeback.

Team doctor Servaas Bingé said:

“From the moment he crashed until today, I’m involved in the rehabilitation of Kris. Almost immediately after the crash, I was on site. The first minutes, he was conscious but couldn’t talk much as he was in shock. Due to the facial fractures, there was a lot of blood coming out of his nose. This made it very difficult to hook him onto the artificial respiration machines. The urgency doctor of the Vuelta and I immediately agreed that the best solution was to put Kris in an artificial coma. We did this on the spot before bringing him to the hospital. The medical services in Spain did a very good job on applying first aid.

"In the beginning Boeckmans was in coma due to the hard crash. When getting out of the coma, Boeckmans was fully able to breathe on his own; though his absorption of oxygen wasn’t healthy. This meant that he was put back into coma and had to recover from the lung injury, which caused this problem with his respiration.  

“After a couple of days in coma, we started to let him breathe on his own. Kris regained consciousness but quickly we discovered that his oxygen absorption wasn’t going fluently. Due to his lung contusion, he couldn’t breathe optimal. This contusion couldn’t be seen during the first examinations, because the lung alveoli can only be damaged after 48 to 72 hours. When we discovered this, we put Kris immediately back to sleep.

"The days after that, his lung contusion evaluated badly. When he was recovered of this contusion, we were able to transfer him to Genk. Since then, everything went quickly. He underwent a facial operation and a couple weeks later he went back home to recover.

"What concerns us the most is his brain concussion. It’s not his first one and because of that the recovery takes a lot of time. By this time, he can start his revalidation but we need to be very careful that he doesn’t overdo himself.”

Boeckmans said:

“I remember nothing of the days before the crash and the crash itself. The first weeks I had some strange dreams. All the people who visited me in Spain also were in my dreams, but in a very different situation. This was a very confusing period. By means of the stories they – including Thomas De Gendt – told me when I was back home, I tried to recover how far back my memory goes. It seems that I only remember the first stage of the Vuelta perfectly and the days afterwards are just a blur. Only three days after they got me out of the coma, I was perfectly conscious again.

“From the moment I began the rehabilitation exercises, I noticed my progress. Even though it is only small steps. Physically, I feel a bit better and a part of my body weight already has returned. Of the 15 kilograms that I lost, eight are back. I don’t have pain, but I feel that I underwent some operations. The screws in my cheek can come out next week, they irritate me. My headache gets worse if I need to concentrate for a long period. At that moment I feel some pressure coming up, so then I will take a rest. Every day, I stay in a dark room where it’s completely silent. By doing this, my brain concussion will recover the quickest.

“I never thought of quitting as a cyclist. Initially, I didn’t realise how bad the situation was. Yes, I was in a hospital, but I didn’t know why. I wanted to leave that place as quickly as possible and re-join the group. By means of the stories my family and friends tell me, the photos and the testimonies, I could draw myself a picture of the situation. Cycling remains an important part of my life and one day I want to be the rider that I was before the crash. When I was watching the World Championships, I could imagine myself riding in the peloton.

“We don’t have a plan for the future. We take it step by step and see how the recovery goes. Three times a week, my girlfriend brings me to the revalidation centre to do my exercises. At this time, I’m capable to ride my bike for only five minutes. The kiné therapists and the team doctor are making sure that I take enough rest in between the exercises. For now, we stop after one and a half hour of exercising, where we focus on strength and stability. Step by step we can build up the intensity."

Manager Marc Sergeant highlighted how big the impact of the crash was for the Belgian team:

“The crash of Kris was a big blow for the team. We are currently riding a fantastic season, but this crash remains a dark cloud. Almost everyone in cycling sends us support messages and we appreciated that enormously. When his situation became worse after a couple of days, I went to vistiy him in the hospital in Spain. It was an emotional moment to see him like that. Kris was riding his best season of his career. Too bad that it stopped abruptly.

“We will keep supporting him in the coming two years to become a cyclist again. We know that it won’t be evident to get back on the level he had before the crash, but nothing is impossible. Kris already proved that in the past weeks. His contract extension was already a fact before the crash and this situation won’t change that. As a team, we will support him where possible and give him all the time he needs to become the person and cyclist he was before.”