Strava helps find missing Trek directeur sportif Steven De Jongh
Rider discovered unconscious in a ravine
It was a tense Twitter morning on Monday after Trek-Segafredo directeur sportif Steven De Jongh’s wife tweeted that he was missing on a ride near his home in Girona, Spain. Having left at 10:30, he was incommunicado after three hours.
People of twitter help me please. My husband @stevendejongh went on his bike and is missing since 10.30 . Around #laGanga area. If you are there help me please to find him. He went on a Trek bike in a trek suit. Retweet please.
— Renee Meijer (@reneemeijer02) October 15, 2018
After 2500 retweets, Strava users when able to ascertain that 62-km into the ride, he wasn’t farther from 15-km from his home, which helped police and others to pinpoint their search. LottoNL-Jumbo pro Robert Gesink, who lives nearby, jumped on his bike to aid in the search.
De Jongh was found by a search helicopter unconscious in a ravine near the bottom of a descent close to La Ganga and transported to a Girona hospital.
Thank you kind people, the helicopter has found @stevendejongh . More news later. He breaths and has a pulse .
— Renee Meijer (@reneemeijer02) October 15, 2018
? Update on @stevendejongh ?
Steven did not sustain more serious injuries other than a concussion in his crash. He complains that “everything hurts right now” but thankfully no broken bones have been revealed.
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) October 15, 2018
By Tuesday, the 44-year-old Dutchman had been discharged from the hospital with a bad concussion.
?Update @stevendejongh ?
Steven was discharged from the hospital this afternoon. He will further rest and recover from his injuries at home. He's still very much affected by what happened & is overwhelmed by all your kind messages and support and says 'thank you' to all of you.— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) October 16, 2018
De Jongh was a professional rider with Rabobank, Quick-Step and Sky during his career from 1995 to 2010. He was a DS at Sky starting in 2010, but left along with Sean Yates and Bobby Julich in 2012, Julich and De Jongh admitting that they used banned substances during their careers. De Jongh was DS with Tinkoff, before joining Trek in 2016.
Police are still investigating the crash.