We’ve been talking for close to half-an-hour, and I’ve been astounded – inspired, even – by Milan Vader’s positivity. Ten weeks ago, just a few hours after I’d last seen him smiling and laughing as he went to sign-on at stage five of the Itzulia Basque Country, the Dutchman crashed hard and almost lost his life. It’s when he addresses the reality of what occurred that there is a noticeable shift in his cheery voice. “I feel really lucky,” he speaks slowly. “There were a few moments that I could have been dead.” He pauses. “I am very lucky.”

When the 26-year-old was catapulted from his bike in the second hour of the day’s racing, he flew over a guardrail and landed, motionless, on a hill that steeply descended down the side of the road. Almost no-one clocked what had happened.

“The race doctor didn’t notice me down the road, but an Intermarché rider did. The doctor initially went to him, but he said he was fine and that there was a guy down there who he’d better help first. I was lucky that the doctor was a heart specialist because he stopped the ambulance on the way to the hospital to do some interventions because he saw something wasn’t right. He saved my life.”

This article was published in Rouleur in October 2023. The full article can be read here.