‘I didn’t know if I’d ride a bike again’ – Milan Vader caps comeback with Guangxi win

Motivation is nine-tenths of the law at this point in the year. When Milan Vader expressed an interest in riding the Tour of Guangxi, Jumbo-Visma management figured the trip to China might be worth the effort after all. Any thoughts of sitting out the final WorldTour race of the season were put to one side.

Vader’s enthusiasm for the adventure was based on what he had read online about the decisive climb to Nongla on stage 4, and the ascent proved as appealing in reality as it had done in theory. After the peloton was whittled down on the lower slopes, the Dutchman bounded clear inside the final kilometre to claim his first professional victory, six seconds clear of Remy Rochas (Cofidis).

“I think I was the first one in the team who asked if he could go to China,” Vader smiled after pulling on the red jersey of race leader. “At first, they were laughing a bit, then they said, ‘Ok let’s see if we can find some guys, then you can go.’”

Vader made his name as a mountain biker before joining Jumbo-Visma last year at the relatively advanced age of 26, and he figured the violence of the effort required on the short, sharp climb to Nongla was ideally suited to a rider with his attributes.

“I just looked at the profile on Veloviewer, and it looked good as the whole day was flat before the uphill finish. I knew it would suit me,” said Vader, who distanced men like Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) to claim the honours. “An effort of two minutes, that’s really a speciality that I took from mountain bike, so that’s what I kept in mind when I attacked. I said I’d just go full gas and then see what happens.”

Crash

Cruelly, the road in Nongla continued to climb beyond the finish line, and Vader had only scarcely managed to unclip his pedals before he ground to a halt. He appeared to be in a place far beyond words as he lay on the roadside to recover, and it was only when his teammate Steven Kruijskwijk reached his side that Vader began to acknowledge his triumph.

Half an hour later, after the podium ceremony had ended, Vader was still struggling to put words on his first professional win, a milestone that seemed unthinkable when he suffered a life-threatening crash at least year’s Itzulia Basque Country, breaking his spine in eleven places.  He would spend twelve days in an induced coma in Bilbao, and he had to learn to walk again before he was eventually able to continue his rehabilitation in the Netherlands.

“I’m a bit speechless,” Vader said. “After all I experienced last year with the crash and all the insecurity, I didn’t know if I would be able to race again or ride a bike again. First of all, I’m just super happy to be healthy, and now I’m super happy to finish it off with a win for my parents, for my family and for the team.”

Remarkably, Vader returned to racing before the end of 2022 at the CRO Tour, and he began the current campaign still holding fast to dreams of competing as a mountain biker at the Paris 2024 Olympics. As the year drew on, however, Vader gradually began to lean more emphatically towards the road.

Combining the two disciplines was complicated enough even before his crash, but now the costs incurred in the trade-off was becoming unsustainable. After missing the mountain bike Worlds due to illness, Vader opted to focus expressly on the road for the time being. Third place at last month’s Tour of Slovakia suggested the decision had been a sage one. Sunday’s exhibition felt like the confirmation.

“Paris was a dream, but the accident last year didn’t make it easier,” Vader said. “Until a few months ago, we didn’t even have a spot for Holland for the Olympics either, and I had dropped back so far. I couldn’t even walk after the crash, so this year I did some mountain bike races to train the body back to what’s necessary for mountain bike.”

Vader politely laughed off the idea that he might now follow the path laid down by another ex-mountain biker, his teammate Sepp Kuss – “I’m just focused on what we can do this week” – but his commitment to the road will be total in 2024, his third season at Jumbo-Visma. On Sunday’s evidence, his progress will be worth tracking closely.

“I still believe it’s possible to combine the two, but it’s going to take a lot of energy and time which is not so good for what I need to do for the road,” Vader said. “So I made the decision, at least for now, to focus on the road. This also gave me a lot of rest in the head. You know, I’m not Van der Poel or Pidcock, so to make the change every time is very hard. It’s relaxed my mind.”