Koen de Kort (40) from Liempde cycled the Tour de France eight times, most recently in 2019. Now he is in the caravan as a technical manager for the Lidl-Trek team. Two years ago, his cycling career came to an abrupt end due to an accident. He had a hard time with that, but now he is completely happy with his life and his work for the cycling team. On Sunday Koen will be in the Netherlands for a while and he will be a guest in the talk show KRAAK of Omroep Brabant.
Koen lost three fingers on his right hand two years ago in a buggy accident in the mountains of Andorra where he lives. He had actually already planned his farewell, but that was forced by the accident six months earlier.
An abrupt end to a career of 17 years as a professional cyclist. A career that actually started when he experienced the start of the tour in Den Bosch as a 13-year-old in 1996. He became infected with the cycling virus that he carries with him to this day. He registered with the Cycling Association Schijndel where he turned out to be a talented rider. In 2004 he got his first professional contract.
Koen was known as a rider for his self-sacrifice. As a servant he has secured many stage victories for riders such as Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb. He was seen as one of the most social cyclists in the peloton: hard on himself, kind to others.
He could use that ‘hard on himself’ after that accident in Andorra. He was devastated by the loss of those three fingers. Until his father once said: “The worst thing is that you can only order seven more beers.”
And now he feels completely at home in the role of Team Support Manager for the American team that he himself cycled for a long time. He takes care of the equipment and during the tour he explores the course for the riders. Because he knows better than anyone what it’s like to cycle a Tour de France.
Further in KRAAK:
Mayor Roland van Kessel van Cranendonck about the nuisance caused by asylum seekers in the village of Maarheeze. In an urgent letter to the State Secretary, he calls the situation unsustainable and asks for action to be taken in the short term.
And Sjef Weber from Helmond comes from the caravan camp. He can hardly read and write, but his car wrecking business is booming. He helped his son-in-law Nieky Holzken to the top in kickboxing. With a book about his life under the title ‘Sjef de Sloper’ he hopes to remove the prejudices about campers.
KRAAK is broadcast live every Sunday at 12 noon and then repeated. The program can also be viewed online and via Brabant+.