"From the specialist I can still play, but I have to wear a cast": Good news for Knops amid work accident

Robbie Knops experienced the scare of his life last week. The 40-year-old Belgian suffered a fractured vertebrae in a work accident.

Knops works as a roofer. "While working, I slipped and fell on my butt. I suffered a broken vertebra, but it could have been much worse," Knops tells his story to VTM2.

At first it was said that Knops would be out of contention for six weeks, but that turns out not to be true. "From the specialist I can still play, but I have to wear a cast. I'm not allowed to lift and can't do my job for the next few weeks either."

"It was a shock though," Knops continued. "The first half hour I was lying on the ground, groaning in pain."

Tour Card

Knops captured his Tour Card early this year. "I look back on those first few months with mixed feelings," he says. "The first two or three weeks went very well, but after that it was a lot less. It's all overwhelming too, I consider this first year mainly a learning year."