{"id":688342,"date":"2026-01-11T06:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T06:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/688342\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T06:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T06:19:15","slug":"the-cold-is-having-more-impact-on-her-femoral-artery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/688342\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe cold is having more impact on her femoral artery\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had hoped for a good day, but it\u2019s been too up and down. In Hofstade we had hope because of her fourth place,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I have the feeling that the cold is having more impact on her femoral artery. This is really unfortunate for Laura, very bitter.\u201d<\/p>\n

A growing issue in cyclocross<\/p>\n

De Kort\u2019s words immediately struck a chord across the cyclocross world. Femoral artery problems have become one of the most feared medical issues in the sport, and only days earlier they had brought an entire career to an end.<\/p>\n

Eli Iserbyt confirmed his retirement this week<\/a> after receiving medical advice that he could no longer continue cycling, even recreationally. In a message shared on Instagram, the Belgian explained: \u201cThe past few weeks I have received the news from multiple doctors that it\u2019s no longer medically advisable for me to ride my bike, recreationally or at a high level.\u201d He added: \u201cI\u2019ve always shared the beautiful moments with you but now I wanted to share the bad ones, that unfortunately it is no longer possible for me to continue my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iserbyt\u2019s decision followed a long struggle with a femoral artery problem that had already disrupted several seasons. After initially riding through the issue, he underwent surgery, returned to training, then required further operations when the problem kept coming back. Eventually he was told that continuing to race or even train seriously was no longer possible.<\/p>\n

The injury reduced blood flow and sensation in his left leg and progressively limited his performance, until doctors advised that stopping completely was the only safe option.<\/p>\n

Verdonschot\u2019s situation is different, but the reference to her femoral artery immediately raised concern, especially given how quickly Iserbyt\u2019s condition escalated from a performance issue into a career-ending diagnosis.<\/p>\n

For Verdonschot, the timing made it even harder to take. This was meant to be her final Belgian championships, in her own province, and instead it ended with an early abandonment and unanswered medical questions.<\/p>\n

Whether her issue proves temporary or more serious remains to be seen. What is clear is that, in a sport already shaken by Iserbyt\u2019s retirement, any mention of femoral artery problems now carries heavy weight, and Verdonschot\u2019s words and De Kort\u2019s concern have added another uneasy chapter to that growing story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWe had hoped for a good day, but it\u2019s been too up and down. In Hofstade we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,184548,186369,207984,207985,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-688342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-cyclocross","10":"tag-eli-iserbyt","11":"tag-laura-verdonschot","12":"tag-national-championships","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115875018366618435","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}