{"id":250410,"date":"2025-11-08T02:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250410\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T02:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:06:08","slug":"the-doctors-havent-been-able-to-solve-it-eli-iserbyts-team-boss-says-belgian-can-do-nothing-but-hope-as-injury-threatens-to-end-career-o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250410\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe doctors haven\u2019t been able to solve it\u201d \u2013 Eli Iserbyt\u2019s team boss says Belgian \u201ccan do nothing but hope\u201d as injury threatens to end career of cyclocross star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eli Iserbyt<\/a>\u2019s season \u2014 and possibly his career \u2014 hangs in the balance after another crushing injury setback forced the Belgian to stop racing completely. The 28-year-old Pauwels Sauzen\u2013Altez Industriebouw rider has been ordered to take four weeks of full rest, with his future now depending on the outcome of crucial medical tests next month.Team manager Jurgen Mettepenningen<\/a> spoke frankly to VTM NIEUWS about the situation<\/a>, admitting that even the medical experts are struggling to find answers. \u201cThe doctors haven\u2019t been able to solve it, so hoping for a natural recovery is all we have left,\u201d Mettepenningen said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t get good news in four weeks, then it\u2019s going to be a very difficult story, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Iserbyt\u2019s latest relapse affects the same leg injury that derailed his early season. After new scans at Ghent University Hospital, he was told to stop all training immediately \u2014 effectively wiping out any realistic hope of returning to competition before the end of the winter campaign.<\/p>\n

Mettepenningen did not hide his frustration or concern. \u201cIt\u2019s sad and unfortunate \u2014 for Eli himself, but also for the whole team. We\u2019re back to square one. There will be another check-up in four weeks, and a lot will be decided then,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The team boss hinted that Iserbyt\u2019s entire career could hinge on that follow-up examination. \u201cHopefully we\u2019ll see progress and the blood flow through the femoral artery will have improved. If that\u2019s the case, we can be optimistic and discuss the next step with the doctors. But allow me to be a little pessimistic today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"copyright<\/p>\n

Iserbyt has twiced finished on the podium at the elite World Championships<\/p>\n

Season effectively overEven with European Championships<\/a> weekend approaching, Mettepenningen conceded that Iserbyt\u2019s 2025-26 cyclocross season is as good as finished. \u201cThe scenario where the season is finished is coming very close. There\u2019s no point denying it. I think we can start to draw a line under it.\u201dWhile teammate Michael Vanthourenhout<\/a> targets glory at Sunday\u2019s European Championships in Middelkerke, the Pauwels Sauzen squad\u2019s celebrations \u2014 should they come \u2014 will be tempered by concern for their sidelined leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team keeps going, and if we win, there\u2019ll be celebrations \u2014 but our thoughts will be with Eli. I think of him as a person, and right now, there\u2019s no consolation for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iserbyt, one of the most consistent performers in modern cyclocross and a 54-time race winner, now faces the toughest battle of his career \u2014 one not fought in the mud, but against time and uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eli Iserbyt\u2019s season \u2014 and possibly his career \u2014 hangs in the balance after another crushing injury setback…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-250410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}