Alvaro Hodeg has had a tough few years since struggling a devastating incident in December of 2021 when a automotive driver hit him whereas he was driving his bike. His WorldTour profession did not finish that day, but it surely would possibly as properly have.
The Colombian rider shattered his decrease leg and hand within the incident, simply as he was getting ready to start out a three-year contract with UAE Crew Emirates after 4 seasons with Quickstep.
Now, he is making a comeback with Crew Medellin, bettering day-to-day, and aiming to come back again to the WorldTour.
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Hodeg, winner of races just like the Koksijde Traditional, Münsterland Giro, levels of the Volta a Catalunya, and Tour de Pologne, was one of many prime sprinters within the peloton earlier than his crash.
After it, he was afraid he would by no means stroll once more, a lot much less experience a motorbike. It took quite a few surgical procedures, together with a nerve graft in his hand, and months spent within the hospital earlier than he might stroll. Hodeg was nonetheless miles away from the end line, nonetheless. He spent all of 2022 making an attempt to rehabilitate his accidents, solely strolling once more for the primary time 5 months after the wreck.
Hodeg managed to take a second step and get again on the bike. He raced for 2 extra seasons, however he was a shadow of his former self, nonetheless affected by knee ache and numbness in his hand that persists to today. Racing on the highest degree was demoralising.
“I needed to cease my profession final season,” Hodeg tells Cyclingnews earlier than the Maryland Biking Traditional.
“The final yr with UAE was tremendous troublesome with all of my knee and hand issues. I wasn’t actually having fun with my profession. It was extra about struggling,” he defined.
“I wasn’t having fun with my bike, and it is what I really like. So I got here again and I made a decision to cease. However Crew Medellin got here to me and requested if I needed to attempt racing easier, extra relaxed, close to house whereas nonetheless making an attempt to get well.”
Quite than struggling by means of the game’s prime races, Hodeg, now relieved of the strain, started to flourish. In his first race with the staff on the Tour of Hainan, he cracked the highest ten on the opening stage. Then he represented Colombia on the Pan-American title and received the race in a bunch dash.
Resplendent within the white jersey of Pan-American champion, Hodeg confirmed that he made the correct option to hold racing.
“To return again and win the Pan American championship is sort of a trophy for me,” Hodeg says. “I can say, it was one of the best victory of my profession – after one yr within the hospital, to come back again and win, it is like a miracle.”
One other victory got here within the Tour de Panamá and, final month, he scored extra prime finishes whereas racing with the staff within the Gateway Cup criterium sequence.
“It was tremendous good to be there,” Hodeg stated of the races in St. Louis. “I stated to the fellows that we should always come subsequent yr with extra coaching. This yr was extra about – not enjoyable, as a result of we at all times experience for the victory, – however you have to have a little bit of follow. [Criteriums] are like one other form of biking. So subsequent yr we’ll attempt to come and win.”
Hodeg may need began as the highest favorite for the Maryland Biking Traditional, which has extra climbing than the 28-year-old prefers, however he has discovered his ambition to rejoin the highest of the game.
“I actually want to come again [to the WorldTour], however it could possibly solely occur if I get well utterly from my crash. I am making an attempt and doing all the things to get well, but it surely hasn’t been so easy. If I can do it, I’ll attempt to come again, as a result of I believe it is the place I belong.”
The bike wreck just isn’t utterly behind him, with scar tissue limiting his vary of movement in his wrist and three fingers nonetheless numb from the nerve injury, however discovering success along with his Continental staff has rekindled his pleasure on the bike.
“It was a tricky second, however I am comfortable simply to experience the bike and benefit from the second and be alive,” Hodeg concluded.
