Petr Vakoc blog: I'm lucky to be alive

In January 2018, I was hit by a truck while training in South Africa. Laurens de Plus was also involved in the accident, while Bob Jungels was also there and gave me first aid. I broke six vertebrae and I'm lucky to be alive, and I didn't know whether I would walk again, let alone race my bike. But after three surgeries, months of rehabilitation and gradually increasing my training load, I am striving to come back. This season has been truly life-changing for me.

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Petr Vakoc has spent almost his entire professional cycling career under Patrick Lefevere's Quick-Step umbrella. He started his career in 2011 with the ASC Dukla Praha Continental team, before moving over to Etixx-IHNed in 2013. He made the jump to the WorldTour in 2013 with OmegaPharma Quick-Step, where he has remained under the various title sponsor changes. A debilitating incident involving car collision while he was training, left the Czech rider with a spinal injury that sidelined him for the entire 2018 season. He is set to make his return in 2019 with the newly named Deceuninck-QuickStep, and he plans to make his mark once again at the sport's highest level.