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After a horrific Stage 8 crash at the Vuelta a España, Lotto-Soudal’s Kris Boeckmans is back in the saddle

It's been a frightening, painful couple of months for Lotto-Soudal's Kris Boeckmans, who crashed out of the 2015 Vuelta a España with brutal fashion during stage 8 -- a heartbreaker of a wipe-out that forced him to be kept in a medically-induced coma for a week.

November 2, 2015
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Kris Boeckmans, seen here in 2010 before riding for Lotto-Soudal, is in an induced coma following a Stage 8 crash at the 2015 Vuelta. (Image: Thomas Ducroquet)
Kris Boeckmans, seen here in 2010 before riding for Lotto-Soudal, was kept in an induced coma following a Stage 8 crash at the 2015 Vuelta. (Image: Thomas Ducroquet)

It’s been a frightening, painful couple of months for Lotto-Soudal’s Kris Boeckmans, who crashed out of the 2015 Vuelta a España with brutal fashion during stage 8 — a heartbreaker of a wipe-out that forced him to be kept in a medically-induced coma for a week. After that came the agonizing grind of recovery, with the Belgian rider afflicted by a terrible range of injuries: several facial fractures, a concussion, broken ribs, swollen pulmonary tissue, and bleeding lungs, to name a few. For a while, things were poised precipitously on the razor’s edge in terms of Boeckmans’s health. The crash, put simply, was a life-threatening one.

That, however, was August. Flash forward to November. This week, news surfaced that the 28-year-old rider is in much, much better shape, having finally mounted his bike for the first time since that harrowing catastrophe at the Vuelta.

Boeckmans, reportedly, has already affirmed his commitment to returning to competition for the 2016 season, when he’ll once again be suiting up in his smart Lotto-Soudal red. Far from jeopardized by the calamitous crash he suffered in Spain, his career is as focused as ever, his prospects in no way diminished. Despite the incident and the injuries he sustained, Boeckmans’ contract with the Belgian squad has been renewed — for a further two years.

On Twitter, Boeckmans let a picture speak the thousand words that he’s back in the saddle, ready to make a comeback.