Stig Broeckx continues remarkable recovery from life-threatening crash injuries

Stig Broeckx is continuing his remarkable comeback from a serious head injury sustained as a result of a crash during the Tour of Belgium in May 2016 that put him in a coma that doctors feared he would never come out of.

On Tuesday, Belgian journalist Sammy Neyrinck posted a video of Broeckx walking as part of his physiotherapy.

The 27-year-old Belgian former Lotto-Soudal rider was being timed as he walked, and appeared delighted with his new time.

Broeckx suffered a severe brain injury and bleeding on the brain after being hit by a race motorbike during stage three of the Tour of Belgium in May 2016. The motorbike had collided with another motorbike that had broken down.

The injury put him in a coma, and doctors feared that he would remain in a vegetative state. However, he came out of the coma in December 2016 and since then has staged a remarkable recovery, steadily regaining his speech, memory and movement.

In May 2017 – a year after the crash – Broeckx was back on a static bike, and cycles for 30-minute blocks. He was even reportedly caught re-setting the timer on the trainer so that he could carry on cycling a bit more.

>>> Stig Broeckx back on bike less than a year after suffering severe brain injuries in crash with race moto

Broeckx’s crash was one of a number of collisions involving riders and race vehicles over the past few seasons.

Broeckx himself had been hit by a race motorbike during Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in February 2016, and suffered a fractured collarbone. He returned to racing in April 2016, but was hit again just a month later with horrific consequences.

The UCI has now introduced stringent rules to control the number of race vehicles and the way in which they move within a race to improve rider safety.