There were highs and lows in the Trek Factory Racing Team on Saturday. Just a few hours after young Belgian talent Jasper Stuyven won the 8th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, the team announced he was forced to withdraw from the race due to a broken left scaphoid.

Jasper Stuyven was one of the many involved in the huge crash at 50 kilometers from the finish, which also took Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Daniel Martin (Cannondale-Garmin), and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) out of the race.

“Like I said after the finish, I felt my wrist and it was getting more and more painful, so I asked to go to the hospital to make the check. I was already scared that it could be the scaphoid because I know from friends who are cyclists what the pain feels like and where it’s located. And, unfortunately, the X-rays confirmed that it is broken and that my Vuelta finishes today," he said.

Nevertheless, Stuyven remains positive: “At first I was of course really disappointed, but then I realized that I really have to enjoy this moment, because now is the time to enjoy my first professional win. For what’s next, I will see when I get home and have the surgery.”

Team doctor Nino Daniele, who accompanied Stuyven to the hospital explains: “The fracture is not dislocated, so in fact it won’t be difficult to resolve it, but it goes without saying that Jasper cannot ride his bike for now. First of all, it would be very painful, but then it’s also possible that the broken bones move and we absolutely want to avoid that.”

Jasper Stuyven will fly back to Belgium on Sunday in order to have surgery as soon as possible in his hometown, Leuven.

“If anything goes well, as I hope, in a couple of weeks, he should be back on the bike and probably sooner on the rollers with his cast,” the team doctor confirmed.