PETR VAKOČ

My name is Petr Vakoč. I’m a professional cyclist. I race for the Belgian team Quick Step. I have competed in the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and at the Olympics, I won the Czech national championships and Bronze medal at the European Games.

 

In January 2018, I was hit by a lorry while training in South Africa. Now I’m striving to return and I would like to share my journey with my fans and people who have hit the bottom and are fighting back. Follow my 100 days to returning among the world’s elite cyclists on the Tour de la Provence in February 2019. I can’t guarantee I’ll succeed, but I will give it my best shot.

 

25 January 2018. Accident in South Africa.

I have the feeling I have woken up from a nightmare. Things come to me gradually. I don’t know where I am, what is happening, why I’m lying on the road. Leaning over me is teammate Bob Jungels. He seems to be in shock. And the excruciating pain in my back. Things start to fall into place – Africa, training. I must have fallen… 

I learn that we were hit by a lorry. Laurens! He’s here with us. How is he? He will be okay Bob assured me. An ambulance is on its way. I suddenly became aware that I can’t feel my legs. A wave of fear comes over me, but at that moment I am concentrating just on the fact that I am breathing. I try to move them. It’s possible slightly. Perhaps it will be okay. The asphalt is pressing into my back – I can’t bear it. We are in the middle of the mountains and the nearest hospital is 80 kilometres away. The stretcher isn’t any more comfortable.

The journey takes forever, but I don’t want any painkillers. I need to be in control of my body. I know there is something wrong with my back. Very wrong. But I can move my legs and I want to continue doing that. Fortunately, the hospital is well equipped and they send me straight for a CT. Every time they move me I instruct them “carefully, carefully!” I try as much as possible to brace the centre of my body. I can at least exercise my core and contemplate the situation.

I get the results. Six fractured vertebrae, a torn tendon and concussion. Tomorrow I will have surgery. In the intensive care unit I see Laurens. He has a minor hip fracture, but is otherwise okay.

 

26 January 2018. First operation

They didn’t operate on me until the afternoon. It didn‘t make any difference to me. I was so dosed up with drugs that I slept or was completely out of it. I woke up the following morning. Legs! I test whether I can move them. Phew, just about. I felt relieved. It will be okay. I will recover from this. Later my brother and mother arrived. They bought tickets even before I had been taken to hospital. “That’s mad” I said to them. Looking back, however, I can’t imagine going through everything in Africa without them. Father stayed at home so he could come out later. I don’t yet know how long I will be here. I have a fantastic family.

 

29 January 2018. I can walk!

I am fitted with a corset. I can get out of bed for the first time. I take my first steps. It’s a great feeling to be on my feet again. I need support and I can only manage a couple of steps, but every day it gets better. My competitive nature shows through and every day I must achieve more and more. Once I overdo it and faint. Fortunately I just have to ask my brother to hold me and help me recline on a nearby table. A nurse takes me back to my bed. I had better slow down a bit.

 

8 February 2018. Return to Czech Republic

I fly back home. I have to decide on various options as to where to continue my treatment. In the end I go for Prague. At Motol hospital there are some of the best specialists in spinal injuries in Europe, and I want to be close to my family. I don’t yet know what awaits me. I am prepared for the fact that further surgery will probably be required, but I hope I can recover without it.

 

Transfer to the airport was like from a bad film. They treated me more like a sack of potatoes than a person with spinal fractures. At that point I realised how lucky I had been with the medics who had transported me after the accident. Nothing was ready at the airport. There should have been a trolley bed for me, but instead they wanted me to go to the plane on crutches. Till then I had not walked more than one hundred metres, so it was out of the question. In addition, the nurse overseeing my transport didn’t know a word of English. It’s a good thing that my mother was there with me, and at the last minute she sorted everything out. Then everything went smoothly. The flight was long, but at Frankfurt a medical flight was waiting for me directly on the runway. I have always wanted to fly on a private jet, but this is not the way I imagined it. At the airport is an ambulance, so the journey from Frankfurt to the hospital took less than two hours.

 

21 February 2018. Another operation

I have had my second operation. It didn’t take long to decide. My body would perhaps have healed without further surgery, but it would be a risk. Above all, it would mean having to forget about sport for ever. If I wanted to be completely fit there was no other option. A week later and I go for a third operation. As they say, saving the best till last. I wake up with terrible pain in the left side of my chest. I had a piece of rib removed, and in place of my first vertebrae I have a metal construction. I am fascinated by what modern medicine can achieve. Every breath hurts, as does even slight movement, but it’s over now. I lost a lot of blood, so I have a transfusion. The thought immediately came to mind that I must report it to anti-doping.

 

17 March 2018. Back home!

You can probably imagine how much I looked forward to this day. I spent almost two months in hospital. The final days really dragged on. I’m feeling better in myself, but I must stay in hospital for rehabilitation. The exercise is great and I am looked after by a fantastic team of physiotherapists, but there’s nowhere like home. I look forward to a comfortable bed, healthy food and fresh air.  

At home with my brother we thought how to modify an exercise machine so I could use it lying down. I was still unable to sit. Pedalling my legs on the exercise machine is not important from a training perspective, but mainly to get the blood pumping and speed up the healing process. I also really enjoyed it! The flood of endorphins helped keep me in good spirits.

Of course I monitored my performance, and each day I strove to do a little bit more. I am lying whilst exercising, so I am not afraid of passing out. In addition, I exercise every day for almost two hours or visit rehab – lying on a mattress in the back of a car to get there. I feel like a professional athlete again.

 

14 May. The corset comes off 

I can finally take off the corset. And above all I can sit down. Freedom! I can eat in a restaurant, travel by car, and, most importantly, cycle. For the moment it’s just on an indoor bike, but it’s great all the same! I start to flex my back. My enthusiastic ideas about doing yoga and moving my stiff back were of course too optimistic. After four months without any movement I must be careful. I add new exercises. I am happy to observe my progress. I am able to maintain a positive mood and I am happy to see improvements since the accident; I don’t compare my performance with the time before my injury, I focus just on the progress. 

 

1 June. First time out on a bike 

After fourteen days the doctors give me the green light - I can cycle outdoors. Wonderful! I feel like at the start of a season before the first race. Excited, some nerves and full of anticipation. I feel the wind, and the joy as the road surface races past under the wheels; I take in the changing countryside. I feel like I am riding a bike for the first time. I realize again why I love this sport so much. Worries about how I’ll feel when a car passes me fade away. I’m not afraid, I feel pure joy that I can push down on the pedals. I am grateful that my body is returning to fitness.

 

26 June. National Championships

It is clear that I am still a long way from being fit to race. I at least participate in preparations. I film a road safety video along with Roman Kreuziger, Pavol Habera and Jiří Langmajer. It is a very topical theme for me and one I would like to continue to highlight. I help with the design of the trophy and at the Moser glass works I have the opportunity to watch the fascinating process of its manufacture. The race itself I enjoyed in the role of forerunner and then spectator. The atmosphere is amazing and I can’t wait to start competing again.

 

July 2018. Training in Livigno

I depart for Italy a week early with the idea of acclimatising to the high-altitude environment before the rest of the team arrives. I look forward to seeing the guys. I haven’t seen most of them for almost half a year. Training with them again is an emotional experience. I hope that I can at least do a small part of the training with them. I am rapidly improving my performance. I ride every other day and can manage almost four hours. Sometimes uphill I am pulled up by car, but otherwise I have no problems. I feel euphoric and am convinced that by the end of the summer I will be competing again.

 

July 2018. Tour de France

From the Alps I travel straight to the Pyrenees and meet up with the rest of the team on the Tour during a rest day. From an accompanying car I watch the stage. It is a very intense day. Philippe Gilbert has a horrifying fall into a gorge. Sitting in the car I watch a cluster of people scramble down into the gorge after him. I froze; racing though my head comes everything that I have gone through over the past months, and I hope that Phil is okay. A couple of minutes later he emerges, covered in blood, but completes the remaining 60 kilometres, even though it is later found he fractured a kneecap. The final of the stage is incredibly tense. We are just behind the leading group, but have almost no information on how the race is developing. The television is not working and the signal is too weak to follow the race online, we just have limited information on the radio. Julian Alaphilippe is riding unbelievably well. He wins! I cannot describe what a great feeling it is when your teammate, and great friend, wins a stage on the Tour.

 

August 2018: A setback

I was not expecting this. Examination in Belgium confirms that I have damaged nerves in my left leg. From the start my left leg was a bit weaker. My hamstring is engaging poorly. I am unable to run; on a bike it is not so evident, but I am missing a few per cent of performance. I feel that it is gradually improving, but no one can say for certain whether the leg will heal. The return to the peloton is postponed. This year I will not compete. However, I am determined to return to form and prepare thoroughly for the new season. This will not break my resolve.

 

September 2018. The United States

I set off to train in America. In the spring my brother moved to Seattle. I have a great opportunity to visit him. I am happy spending time with him and we train together in the Washington mountains. I spend a further fourteen days with a friend in Colorado at a height of 2000 metres above sea level. It is a fantastic place for training and the weather is perfect. Training data is already approaching competition values.

 

October 2018. A new contract and the journey back!

A further examination in Belgium. I have been making great progress in training, but it still has not been not clear if I will be able to race again. The nerves in my left leg are healing slowly. Progress is positive and above all: the results of performance tests are excellent. The team is behind me. I should start competing in February. I am grateful for the excellent support I have had from the other riders, support team, doctors and management. I can devote all my energy to rehabilitation and training in order to return to my best form. I don’t feel under pressure from the team. This is certainly not the rule in professional sport. 

 

I have signed a one-year contract. The adventure continues!