Last season, Slock animated the early breakaway in the Scheldeprijs and impressively repeated the feat less than a week later in Paris-Roubaix. However, this year, he is absent from the team’s spring classics selection due to persistent knee issues. “The problems started on the penultimate day of our team training camp in Denia,” Slock explains. “On December 31, I was hit by a car while training. That might have been the cause—I could have unconsciously adjusted my position on the bike after that crash, leading to poor posture and, ultimately, knee pain.”
Over the past weeks, Slock tried everything to relieve the pain but struggled to train properly. “The muscle in my knee kept getting inflamed, no matter what treatment we tried. I think I barely managed 20 hours on the bike in the last seven weeks. It hasn’t been easy. I was supposed to start my season at the GP Castellon and Classica Valenciana, and last year I already missed part of the spring due to a crash… But finally, I see some light at the end of the tunnel. I had knee surgery last week, and everything went well. Now, it’s all about resting and applying plenty of ice. On March 26, the stitches can come out, and hopefully, I can start rebuilding. By then, I won’t have ridden for nine weeks, so racing won’t be happening anytime soon. It would already be great if I could be back in time for the Belgian Championships. That way, I can still turn the second half of the season into something worthwhile.”
Picture: Brecht Steenhouwer
