I was so motivated to sign with Cofidis last year. I was always top 5 in the team when it came to all the fitness tests. Sometimes, top 3 even. I started the season in my first race with 5th place in GP Marseillaise.
But then, in the opening weekend of the classics, I got sick, just before Kuurne Brussels Kuurne. I went to a training camp, came back for Milan San Remo and had a hernia. I told the team but they said they have no other riders, so I had to continue riding and do Tour of Flanders and all the classics.
With a hernia.
I went to the team hotel the week before the race thinking, “what am I doing here? I can’t even pedal a bike.”
Mentally this is very hard to deal with.
Imagine sitting on the team bus before the race, fans are coming to say hello to support me and I already know my race is over before it even begins. I’m looking fans in the face, smiling, and they have no clue what I’m going through.
In races like Flanders, you have to be 200% to have a chance of anything.
Imagine starting with a hernia.
My career was not going well. I saw my brother’s daughter at the race and took her in my arms and just started crying.
In Belgium, they announce on TV when you pull out of the race. It’s not great for the fans who came out to support you.
The hernia was injury number 9 in my career. Mentally, it cracked me.
Last year I was at home crying, a lot.
My family could tell I wasn’t the same Zico anymore. They were visiting me at a race last year and as soon as I saw them, I started crying. I was very unhappy.
My career was not going well. I saw my brother’s daughter at the race and took her in my arms and just started crying.
The hardest thing for me wasn’t coming to the decision for myself to retire. It was telling my parents and my brother that I was retiring. I didn’t want to disappoint them.
My mother is a cleaning lady and my father works in a factory. My brother is 12 years older than. He also works in a factory. They sacrificed so much for me to become a professional cyclist.
They didn’t go on holiday just so they could afford equipment for my sport. When my parents couldn’t afford to buy me a new TT bike or wheels, my brother would buy it for me.
Since I was 13 years old, I was so sure I would become a professional cyclist. I never had anything else in my mind. I had no doubt.
Sitting down to tell them I was quitting was so hard. But the people closest to you know you better than you think and they could see it coming.
The truth is, my career has never been the same since 2013. My right leg always felt weird. It felt like there was lactate acid all the time. After a few misdiagnoses, they discovered it was not getting enough blood.
My artery was too narrow and I needed major surgery. They took a vein from my leg and cut it in the middle then joined it with my artery to enlarge it. That was 7 months without racing. I was never the same rider.
In the younger categories I had so much potential. I won a lot. It led to a stagiaire role with Topsport Vlaanderen. I went with them to the Tour of Denmark and was top 10 on GC. But after the surgery, I was never the same.
I tried to ignore my leg problem and keep on continuing riding. I had no options in life. With cycling I could earn a living much better than working in a factory. It was my childhood dream.
I knew what it was like to come from a modest home. I was so focused on cycling that I never went to get a higher education after school. With cycling, I could earn three times more than my parents so I had to continue.
2015 was the only year without injuries. The rest of the time, my problems would always come just before the Classics. My last year with Team Sunweb, I had a stomach problem. With Verandas Willems I broke my wrist in Bessèges just before the Classics. My last year with Cofidis, boom, hernia, just before the Classics.
In Belgium you live for the Classics.
One year I was nominated as best helper of the year because of the work I did for John Degenkolb. One year you’re nominated and the next three years you’re not 100%. There’s always something.
But there’s many great memories I will take with me from the sport forever.
I won a stage in the Tour of Belgium. That was great. I was second on a stage in Tour of California, right in the middle between Cavendish and Sagan. What a podium to stand on. It was a special moment for me.
I was there when Degenkolb won Milan San Remo and when Tom Dumoulin had the jersey in the Vuelta until the very end almost.
I’m also glad I met my friend Michael Goolaerts before he died. I didn’t know him for a very long time but when we became teammates in 2018, we immediately became friends.
We went on training camps together and would text each other all the time about boys’ stuff. Cars, girls, sport.
I have a picture of him at home with candles on either side and I look at him every day. Goolie is always with me. I rode with the #All4Goolie on my bike.
I was one of the guys who carried his coffin.
His death changed my perspective on life. It stopped me from sweating the small stuff and looked at life through different eyes.
I’m only 28 but I’ve been through so many challenges in my life. 9 serious cycling injuries. Not injuries that take 3 weeks to recover. It always took months.
I already had so much bad luck in my career then have a friend who died in his dream race completely changes you.
I will be fighting for him.
Not fighting in the sense that cyclists use the word when they talk about racing and fighting for the victory.
I’m talking about actual fighting.
I’ve officially retired from cycling to become a boxer. My first pro fight is in April. I don’t know my opponent yet and I don’t care. I’m going into the ring to win. I don’t care if I get hit in the head. I’m going in there to fight and throw the punches.
People ask me if I’ve always liked boxing. I love the trash talking of Conor McGregor. How can you not be a fan of boxing when you watch him? Last year I was teammates with Nacer Bouhanni who is a former boxer and we could talk about mutual people we knew in boxing circles.
This will sound weird but I believe there is a lot more respect in boxing than in cycling. Cycling has changed a lot in the last years and it lost some respect.
There’s hard training in boxing and a lot of respect.
I just want to perform in the ring now and prove myself.
#All4Goolie is printed on my shorts just like it was on my bike. I’m ready to start my new life.
Tags: boxing, team cofidis, team sunweb, Zico Waeytens Last modified: Feb 1, 2020
