Having suffered brain injuries, Stig Broeckx's condition is grave but he is out of a coma at last.
Hit by a race motorbike in Belgium back in May, there were real fears for Stig Broeckx’s life. But now the Lotto-Soudal rider is officially out of a coma.
The 26-year-old is also learning to swallow again and has spoken his first words.
While the improvement in his condition is positive, the fact he is learning basic functions again underlines the severity of his condition.
His team say he has a long road back to recovery. And what that recovery may look like, even in time, is not clear.
The team is currently at a training camp in Mallorca where its doctor Servaes Bingé gave the media an update on the rider’s condition.
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"He's still not a healthy boy, just to mention the progress is positive," Dr Bingé said.
"He is learning to swallow independently and spoke a few small words for the first time."
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However, while Broeckx’s profess was “much more than anyone could have imagined” in recent months, his recovery will take a lot of time, say the doctor.
And the medical staff at the hospital where the rider is being treated said it was far too early to say how much recovery would be achieved.
Back in June it emerged Broeckx was in a vegetative state one month after he was taken out when two race motos crashed into each other and then bunch at the Belgium Tour.
He suffered a number of bleeds on the brain and underwent surgery several times.
In its June update, the team said Broeckx had suffered “severe brain damage, in the brain stem and different brain regions”.
And it told the media at that time that out of respect for his family it would not be making further comment; a development that led many to fear the worst.
The crash that has injured him so badly occurred when one race moto hit a stationery race moto as the field was descending a climb about 65km into stage 3 last month.
Both motorbikes then hit the field with about 20 riders falling, half of whom were hospitalised.
And having been badly injured when hit from behind by a moto at the Belgian semi classic Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne back in February, he appears to have come of worst of the riders who crashed today.
He was attended to by medics at the scene of last month’s crash before being taken by helicopter to hospital in Aachen.
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