“I shut myself off from everything — it made me deeply depressed”: Former world champion worried for Eli Iserbyt amid injury nightmare

Bart Wellens has voiced serious concern for Eli Iserbyt’s mental wellbeing as the Belgian cyclocross star faces yet another painful setback in his long fight to return to racing.

The former world champion says Iserbyt’s situation — battling complications following four iliac artery surgeries this year and now forced back off the bike just as a comeback approached — risks becoming “an athlete’s hell”.

Wellens reflected on his own struggles to underline the emotional weight of Iserbyt’s position, admitting he once made the same mistake riders often fall into when careers stall through injury. “I once shut myself off from everything and everyone during a difficult period, and it made me deeply depressed,” Wellens reflected in his analysis column for Het Nieuwsblad. “Only when I was willing to speak to others about my problems did I start to feel better.”

The message was as much a warning as it was empathy. “What Eli is experiencing right now is an athlete’s hell,” he continued. “That uncertainty must weigh incredibly heavily. I hope he has the right people around him to talk to.”

Iserbyt’s latest relapse came just weeks before his targeted return at the Superprestige Jaarmarktcross Niel on 11 November. Instead, complications flared up again during training, forcing a halt and a new round of medical examinations in Ghent.

Team boss Jurgen Mettepenningen has already warned supporters not to expect an imminent comeback, describing the situation as “rather pessimistic than optimistic”.

The 28-year-old Pauwels Sauzen – Altez Industriebouw rider, who dominated the early part of last winter before his artery issues emerged, is now wrestling not just with his leg, but the uncertainty of whether he will return at his previous level — or at all.

Wellens believes that psychological battle may be the hardest. “He already seemed to find things difficult after the first surgeries and now this comes on top,” he said. “Will he return this season, will he be able to race again at all, and at what level? These are questions going through his head. I hope there are people ready to help him through this dark period.”

Iserbyt’s combative racing and consistency have been pillars of elite cyclocross for the past five seasons. His absence has already reshaped the early winter narrative; his continued uncertainty only deepens the sense of concern across the peloton.

Wellens summed up the emotion felt throughout the sport: “This is a very big drop in a bucket that was already pretty full.”

For now, Iserbyt remains focused on tests, rest and clarity. The only certainty — as a former world champion reminded the cycling world — is that even its fiercest competitors are not immune to vulnerability.