Shirin van Anrooij will not compete in the cyclocross or early road racing seasons while she recovers from successful surgery to treat iliac artery endofibrosis undergone on October 31. Her team Lidl-Trek confirmed in a medical update that the Dutch multi-discipline rider would return to competition in May.
“After some hard months on and off the bike, we finally got to the bottom of what was causing me problems in my left leg. I have had successful surgery to repair a narrowing of my external iliac artery. It was definitely a scary discovery at first, but everything went well and I am happy that I can now start my recovery," Van Anrooij said.
“I have a long journey in front of me! It will be around six months until I can properly think about racing again so, sadly this will mean no CX for me in 2024/2025, but I'll be watching and cheering for everyone all season.
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"All the support I have received from my friends, family, team staff and teammates has been incredible! It's made this process a lot easier so, I want to thank everyone who has been with me every step of the way through this.”
Van Anrooij said that she experienced "unusual sensations in her left leg" during the second half of the road racing season. In September, she was also forced to make the difficult decision to pull out of the UCI Road World Championships and end her season early due to an unexplained lingering pain and power loss in her left leg.
She was later diagnosed with a narrowing of her external iliac artery.
Van Anrooij, a multi-discipline racer in road and cyclocross, made significant progress in racing on the WorldTour over the last two seasons with a win at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and podiums in other major races at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold Race. She has also secured the overall title in the Women's WorldTour youth category for three seasons.
In cyclocross, Van Anrooij is a multiple-time winner in the UCI Cyclocross World Cup across the 2023-24 and 2022-23 seasons, where she finished third overall in the series rankings and won the under-23 world title.
Van Anrooij took to Instagram to provide a medical update and confirmed that she would not be ready to return to competition for at least six months.
"My off-season is going to be a little longer this year," she wrote. "After some hard months on and off the bike, we finally got to the bottom of what was causing me problems in my left leg and I have had successful surgery to repair a narrowing of my external iliac artery.
"It was definitely a scary discovery at first, but everything went well and I am back to having a big smile on my face now that I can finally start my recovery.
"And a special thank you to the entire medical team of Maxima MC Veldhoven for taking such good care of me."
