Former Belgian champion targeted during training nightmare: “The woman chased us, became extremely aggressive, and deliberately drove her car into my rear wheel”

What should have been a routine training ride turned into a prolonged and frightening ordeal for former Belgian road champion Jesse Vandenbulcke, who says she was chased for kilometres, intimidated, and deliberately hit by a car while preparing for the upcoming road season.

The 2019 Belgian champion, currently training with De Ceuster Bouwpunt Cycling Team, described how an initial near miss escalated into a sustained and aggressive pursuit that ended with her being knocked to the ground.

“Yesterday I was deliberately hit, causing me to crash, after an extremely aggressive traffic situation,” Vandenbulcke wrote on Instagram. “It started when the female driver recklessly pulled out of her driveway without looking and almost hit me. I shouted to her that she should be more careful in future. That completely escalated.”

According to Vandenbulcke, the driver began following the riders, repeatedly cutting them off and shouting abuse. The situation intensified further when the woman contacted her partner and continued the pursuit with two cars.

“Three kilometres later, they came after us with two cars to intimidate and block both me and my fellow cyclist separately. There was aggressive shouting and threats,” she said. “Thanks to bystanders, the situation seemed to calm down briefly, but not much later, the woman deliberately drove her car into my rear wheel.”

Vandenbulcke attempted to escape the situation by turning onto a gravel section, hoping to shake the pursuing driver. Instead, the confrontation reached its most dangerous point.

“When entering the gravel path, I was hit again, causing me to crash, after which she fled the scene,” she wrote. “This could have ended fatally. Traffic aggression is life-threatening.”

The former national champion escaped without broken bones, but made clear the psychological impact of the incident. She stressed that the episode was not a momentary loss of temper, but a sustained sequence of intimidation and violence.

“We just want to be able to practise our passion safely, without fear, without aggression, without danger to our lives,” Vandenbulcke added. “Traffic aggression has no place anywhere, certainly not towards cyclists.”

She also noted that while the driver questioned what would be done with video footage of the incident, there was no concern shown for the well-being of the riders involved.

“The woman asked what I was going to do with the footage, but she never once asked how we were,” Vandenbulcke wrote.

The incident adds to a growing list of reported cases of serious traffic aggression involving cyclists, and underscores the vulnerability riders face even during structured training sessions on open roads.