Lotto Soudal's Verschaeve shares how he almost quit professional cycling - "I felt that my chances in cycling had run out, and I was done with that misery myself"

Lotto Soudal rider Viktor Verschaeve’s season was not so great. The rider suffered from a trapped femoral artery and, at one point, almost considered leaving professional cycling for good but thankfully, his team was supportive of him and stopped him from taking any harsh decisions.

"In the fourth stage of the Tour du Limousin, I had a breaking point," Verschaeve said. He continues, "There remained a lot of uncertainty about my left leg. I felt that my chances in cycling had run out, and I was done with that misery myself. For a good two months, I was pretty sure I was going to stop cycling. I had already let some cycling friends and teammates know. When I had to get off again there in France with too much pain, I broke down and gave up crying by the side of the road."

The rider couldn’t stop his tears of disappointment in the Tour de France. That evening he was about to give up his professional racing, but team manager Maxime Monfort talked to him and stopped him from taking any irreversible decision without thinking clearly. “He told me that otherwise, I would have regretted all my life because of the 'what if' question.”

Later he realised the truth in his manager’s words when he competed in Schaal Sels to support Arnaud De Lie. “I was riding so smoothly and was strong. Then I realized it would be a shame if I had to stop like this.”

The young Belgian rider has decided to continue his racing career but he is not ready to take part in the WorldTour team and chooses Lotto Dstny Development Team for his next season.

“This season I lived for two months under the delusion that I was going to stop. If that is the case, then that abyss is no longer so deep. I've been this close before. But this profession is incredibly beautiful,” concluded Verschaeve.