"I always said I would be fine if my life ended that day" - disturbing confession of Maurits Lammertink who has to live with permanent brain damage after being hit by a motorbike
Cycling
Rehabilitation for former professional Maurits Lammertink is not going as hoped. The winner of the 2016 Tour of Luxembourg was the victim of a road accident in the summer of 2021, when he was going to eat ice cream with his family and was hit by a motorbike. This painful mishap caused him several cerebral hemorrhages and required hospitalization in intensive care. The 33-year-old Dutchman still has to live with severe daily headaches and other ailments.
The former Dutch cyclist says he is anything but happy in this very difficult period for him. "Definitely not at the moment. I have to get used to my life and find a new rhythm," says Lammertink at Algemeen Dagblad, speaking about his recent separation from his wife. "I hope I can be happy again one day. I always said I would be fine if my life ended that day. How is my quality of life now? I am struggling a lot and my quality of life is nothing else at the moment."
His wife Marion told the Dutch newspaper that the rehabilitation did not bring what they had hoped for for a long time and that Maurits recently went to live alone in a bungalow on a campsite. "This way it is much better for him, he can rest well without too much stimulation. But it is also better for my children, who can now go back to being children and do not have to worry about disturbing their dad."
Read also
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
Loading
🇱🇺#TourDeLuxembourg 2016, clasificación final: 1 🇳🇱 @lammertinkm (Roompot-Oranje Peloton) 2 🇧🇪 @PhilippeGilbert (BMC) +0:09 3 🇱🇺 @alexkirsch92 (Stölting Service Group) +0:19 4 🇫🇷 @AnthonyTurgis (Cofidis) +0:22 5 🇩🇰 @JensenJuul (Orica-GreenEDGE) +0:24
Write a comment