"Intensive efforts can then be a trigger" - Belgian team coach explains why Nathan van Hooydonck can't return to racing

Nathan van Hooydonck has been forced to retire from pro cycling following his heart attack suffered last week. Alive and in improving health, the Belgian is now stable. He's been given an internal defibrillator which can save his life if it's to happen again, however that prevents him from returning to professional cycling.

“There is a consensus about it. Racing with a defibrillator is excluded. For example, if the defibrillator goes off while you are descending a mountain pass, you could fall and endanger yourself and the other riders,” Kris Van der Mieren, the doctor of the Belgian cycling federation, told Sporza. “If a football player receives a shock, he may bend to his knees, but he will not endanger himself or the other players. There are always people who can intervene. In cycling it is much more specific, just like in other sports such as Formula 1 or motocross. These are sports where it is not possible for the same reasons.”

It is not a fully uncommon situation, but every sport has it's own rules and guidance regarding these complex medical issues. Within the nature of cycling, the Jumbo-Visma rider could be endangering himself and fellow riders by being in the peloton with his condition. “We must certainly emphasize that such things also happen in other sporting disciplines. Athletics, swimming, football... But also outside the sports world. Such a condition in a well-known athlete reaches the media, but people who are less known and/or do not participate in sports do not talk about it. But the frequency is certainly comparable.”

Sonny Colbrelli was very recently a case that resembles that of van Hooydonck. Both were only found to have problems after a near-disaster situation. "Intensive efforts can then be a trigger," Van der Mieren adds. "I just don't think this could have been determined earlier. Someone who races at such a level has been better screened than anyone else.”