“This is not the farewell that Eli Iserbyt deserves” – Former world champion raises doubts over femoral artery surgery

For Bart Wellens, the news that Eli Iserbyt will never race cyclocross again landed as more than just another retirement announcement. It felt wrong. Too sudden. Too unfinished.

Writing in his Crossprofessor column for Het Nieuwsblad, the former world champion made it clear that what hurts most is not just that Iserbyt is gone, but the way he has been forced out. “This is not the farewell that Eli deserves,” Wellens wrote after news broke that Iserbyt will never race again. “It is awful that he has to say goodbye to his passion in that way.”

For a rider who shaped races, seasons and rivalries for years, slipping quietly out through a medical door feels, in Wellens’ eyes, deeply unjust. “We will miss him, Michael Vanthourenhout will miss his mate. Eli has always been a race-defining rider, someone who brought spice and fire to cyclocross.”

That is how Iserbyt will be remembered inside the sport. Not just as a winner, but as a constant presence at the front of races, someone who forced others to react, chase and adapt. Mud, sand, freezing cold or summer heat, he was there, week after week, shaping the rhythm of the winter.

Iserbyt’s career was built on consistency and aggression. From youth categories through to elite level, he became one of the defining riders of his generation, collecting major victories across World Cups, national races and championships. He was not a part-time star who peaked once and faded. He was a constant. That makes the end even harder to accept.

The issue that ended his career was not a crash or a single traumatic injury, but a long, grinding medical problem involving his femoral artery, the main blood vessel supplying the leg. Reduced blood flow, pain under effort and loss of power slowly made racing impossible. Surgery followed, but relief never truly came.

Wellens links Iserbyt’s case to a worrying trend. “After Laura Verdonschot, Eli is already the second rider we have lost this season after an operation on the femoral artery. And that does make me ask questions.”

For Wellens, the problem is not just that riders are getting injured, but that a specific type of surgery is appearing more and more often. “Is that procedure really perfected yet? It has become a bit of a hype. I actually don’t want to say too much about it because I don’t know everything about it either.”

What he does know is that Iserbyt had already been suffering long before the final decision was made. “What I do know is that last season Eli was already riding around in pain, but his results really were not that bad.”

That line is telling. Iserbyt was not fading gently into the background. Even while hurting, he was still competitive, still relevant, still part of the story. The end did not come because his level dropped. It came because his body could no longer safely support what his mind still wanted to do.

In most careers, riders get a final season, a farewell lap, a last applause. Iserbyt did not. There was no goodbye tour of muddy courses, no chance for fans to know they were watching him for the final time. Instead, there was a medical verdict, a closed door, and silence where noise used to be.

That is why Wellens’ words cut so sharply. This is not about medals or numbers. It is about dignity.

For a rider who gave so much of himself to the sport, who defined races and rivalries for years, being forced out by an artery that refused to heal feels brutally unfair. The farewell never happened. And for many inside cyclocross, that is what hurts most.