For Jasper Stuyven, a mid-race crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen in late March marked the premature end of a promising spring Classics season.
The Belgian had finished eighth at Milan-San Remo and second at the E3 Saxo Classic before a mass crash in the peloton saw him put out of action with a broken collarbone and multiple abrasions.
Unlike countryman Wout van Aert, however, Stuvyen has been able to recover from his injuries in time to make it to the start of the upcoming Giro d'Italia, his second outing at the race.
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Writing in a diary for Het Laatste Nieuws, the Lidl-Trek star lifted the lid on his recovery process, from the initial operation to fix his fracture, to tentatively getting back on the bike and returning to training, and then finally, to recent confirmation that he'd be able to make it to Italy.
Stuyven was operated on soon after the crash and abandon at Dwars on March 27. He wrote at the time that asking questions about recovering in time for the Giro's Grande Partenza "makes no sense".
"Asking after the operation whether I can still ride the Giro makes no sense," he wrote. "Doctors are not concerned with prognoses. They only care about the patient's full recovery. They stress that I had to rest my affected muscles and not rush my rehabilitation."
The following days saw him visit Lidl-Trek Classics teammates on the way home – "I find it important to pass by my teammates and motivate them to make the best of it in the remaining Classics" – and receive daily nursing care at home.
There was no quick comeback on the bike for Stuyven, who wrote that "the bike will stay in the shed for a while" five days after the crash, before riding for the first time on the trainer on April 6, three days later.
"That today is exactly four weeks before the start of the Giro? Pure coincidence. The Giro is still a long way off," he wrote at the time, before enduring "mentally the toughest day of rehab" the following day as he missed Paris-Roubaix for the first time in his career.
April 17, Stuyven's 32nd birthday, brought a hospital check-up and "the green light to start training again if the muscles allow it" as well as a five-hour trainer session – "a throwback to the 2020 COVID season".
Just the next day he returned to riding outdoors, a three-hour session which saw Stuyven "lay in bed for the whole afternoon with a stomach problem, a reaction to the effort". April 21, two weeks out from the Giro start, marked "a kind of D Day" to start ramping up training intensity in a bid to start in Italy.
More good news on April 24 – "After a call with the team doctor and directeur sportif Gregory Rast, they are reserving a spot for me in the Giro selection", while April 25 brought three hour-long altitude simulation sessions while his teammates were away at altitude training camp.
Two days later marked another milestone for Stuyven, who will be supporting 2023 points jersey winner Jonathan Milan in the sprints next month, as he celebrated his "first day spend completely pain-free", though "the bolts and screws will stay in place for a while" even as the patches on his wounds came off.
Monday brought with it Lidl-Trek's team announcement and a happy man in Jasper Stuyven, back in racing as part of the eight-man selection alongside Milan, former pink jersey holder Juan Pedro López, Andrea Bagioli, Simone Consonni, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Daan Hoole, and Edward Theuns.
"I have agreed with the team management that they don't expect much from me until the first rest day. The reality will be no different. That I can start is the biggest blessing," Stuvyen wrote in his final diary entry.
"From the second week, I hope to be of significance for our sprinter Jonathan Milan and furthermore I want to end the Giro with a good feeling and top condition in order to continue towards summer and autumn.
"On Wednesday I'll travel by train to Turin. During that journey, I will study the roadbook, though with some fear in my heart because that final week in the mountains will be tremendously difficult."
