Taco van der Hoorn, who crashed heavily during the Tour of Flanders 2023, still suffers from the consequences of his severe concussion. The 30 year old Dutchman is still undergoing a long period of rehabilitation, with a gradual progress but sometimes slowed down by certain effects linked to the severity of the concussion. Closely monitored by the medical staff of World Team Intermarché-Wanty, completed by the knowledge of international experts, van der Hoorn is not yet in a position to make his comeback in the peloton.
Nevertheless, the Giro d’Italia 2021 stage winner was able to join his teammates for the first time since his crash during the collective training camp of Intermarché-Wanty in Albir (Alicante, Spain) in January. The breakaway specialist, who still didn’t recover his full capabilities and is not yet able to cope with the heavy workloads of collective training rides, could train solo, follow certain training sessions in company of the sports directors, participate in the feedback sessions with technical partners and attend the official team presentation.
While the date of his return into competition remains uncertain and closely monitored by the performance team of Intermarché-Wanty, van der Hoorn analyses the progress of the past months with optimism.
“I was very happy to join the team for the first time since my crash, to be united with staff and riders all together in their preparation towards season 2024, which unfortunately started without me because of the consequences of my concussion. The past couple of months I alternated between hope and doubts, with sometimes fast progression but also weeks during which I suffered and was forced to rest.” “Now, I’m able to do physical activities every day and short bike rides on a regular basis. I scrupulously follow the advice of the doctors to foster my recovery. For now we have no certainty about the duration of my unavailability, before recovering physical capabilities which are stable enough for a high load of training work. These question marks sometimes cause frustration, but I try to focus on the encouraging aspects and the positive evolution on the long term. Meanwhile, I try to be as useful as possible for the team by staying in close contact with our technical partners.”
