Jordi Meeus still rides through pain after brutal Tour crash
The purple bruises on his wrist, hand, elbow, knee and ankle tell their own story. But for Jordi Meeus, the worst scars from his crash at the Tour de France are the ones that make even the simplest act a trial. Weeks later, the Belgian sprinter still measures his days not in training sessions or race kilometres, but in the hours spent tending to wounds.
Speaking to Het Laatste Nieuws after the Profronde van Zevenbergen, a criterium in the Netherlands, Meeus didn’t hide the toll.
“From the moment you get on the bike, you think: ‘Damn, half an hour closer to the shower.’ The most painful part of the day,” he says with a grimace after the Profronde van Zevenbergen, a criterium in the Netherlands. “That gets into my head. I spend about two hours a day showering and taking care of the wounds.”
Even the smallest cuts cause unbearable pain. “Look, you can still see it here. My elbow was fairly deep open. And here, on my shoulder, I had a fairly large wound.” He points to the bruised spots on his knees. “Both of them were wide open.”
Meeus turns a quarter turn and guides with his chestnut-brown eyes to his back. “There are a few burns there.” His tone makes it sound almost routine. “Three bikes ran into me with their front wheels. One fell over me. The other two were already braking and stopped against me.”
“Because there was still a wheel turning, the skin on my back burned. After four days it got better luckily. Except for my knees, they were done. Every time I stretched my leg, there was tension on my skin and I was in serious pain. The nerve is not dead, but it is damaged. Then I try as best I can to leave the bandages on in the shower. The doctor takes them off later and cleans the wounds.”
“On a warm day, the plasters come off because of body sweat. Then it’s very careful showering. The wounds have to be super well wrapped, otherwise it won’t work.”
After reflecting on his recovery, Meeus also spoke about his future teammate, Remco Evenepoel.
“A bit of an atypical transfer. I know Remco as a nice guy. In the media, he may not have the best image. But when I see him or we go training together, he is very nice.
For the team and sponsors it is only positive when such a world-class rider comes. In terms of stability and budget, we are in the top three. It has turned out that an immense budget is needed to have big tour ambitions. At the moment, that was not the case at Quick Step.”
From there, Meeus reflected on the scale of those ambitions and the resources needed to make them real.
“The absolute goal of Remco and the team (Red Bull) is to win the Tour. Then the leader, Remco in this case, must be surrounded by guys who are not exactly cheap. A lot of budget is needed for that.”
Finally, he turned to what all this might mean for him.
“Danny van Poppel has already gone along a few times as support for the flat. That suits me a little less. If it’s no longer the Tour, it might be better for me to go as a sprint leader to the Giro or Vuelta.”
For now, the scars still sting, but Meeus is already looking toward the challenges to come.
