UNBREAKING THE BEST

Ever wondered how pro cyclists bounce back from terrible injuries? Chris Marshall-Bell meets the man regarded by many as the best cyclist-fixer in the business

- Chris Marshall-Bell

What do Johan Museeuw, Frank Vandenbroucke, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Tom Pidcock have in common? Yes, all have Grand Tour stage wins in their palmarès, and yes, all are regarded as among the very best cyclists of their generation. But the other less well known commonality is that they have all trusted the methods of Lieven Maesschalck to help them recover from serious injuries.

Whether it was Museeuw battling to come back after a motorbike incident in 2000 almost ended his life, van Aert returning from a terrible crash at the 2019 Tour de France, or Evenepoel bouncing back from a horrifying fall into a ravine at Il Lombardia in 2020, Belgian physiotherapist Maesschalck has been the man they have all called in their hour of need.

Speak to any of these riders, and they’ll credit Maesschalck for their comebacks. After a short interview with the Belgian specialist following Evenepoel’s successful recuperation, we knew we needed to dig a little further into his methods...

Move to cure

A physio since 1986, Maesschalck’s rehab principle is simple: move to cure, which is also the name of his business. “I didn’t invent this way of treating injuries, it existed for 100 years, but as soon as I started seeing improvement in patients who had lower-back injuries, I knew that this system worked and would work for all types of sporting injuries,” Maesschalck tells CW.