“Over the past three years I have exhausted all options to improve my performance on the bike, clinging to the little hope of improvements through physiotherapy and training. But every time I got fitter and tried to train more/increase the intensity, the problems came back and became more and more severe,” Moonen said on Instagram.
Ex-professional cyclist Puck Moonen (29) victim of senseless violence during bicycle ride: ‘They tried to hit me with a piece of wood’
“It’s been an incredibly tough few years mentally and I’m actually glad that I didn’t give up and I’m still on the bike despite everything. I’ve tried so many times to come back. It’s now so clear why it never worked. But now Puck 2.0 is coming,” she said in advance on Instagram, where she has almost 900,000 followers.
This week the time had come: Moonen went under the knife. The hope is that her physical problems have now been resolved, so that Moonen can rebuild her fitness.
What kind of intervention was needed for Puck Moonen?
“The operation was very successful,” he said. “They performed an endarterectomy to improve the blood supply to my right leg. I had a fantastic team of surgeons for the operation and I cannot thank everyone at Flevo Hospital enough for the great care! For such a major operation, everything went very smoothly and I was back on my feet a few hours after the operation with minimal pain. The road to recovery will be very long and probably not perfect, but step one has been taken! Now it’s time to relax and sleep off the anesthesia.”
The story of Puck Moonen (28): Instagram phenomenon thanks to bikinis and fast cars
Moonen is no longer professionally active as a rider. After three seasons with the Lotto Soudal Ladies (2017-2019), she still rode for Chevalmeire, before retiring in 2022. Since then, the Brabant native has focused on clay competitions and her role as an influencer. This year, Moonen became engaged to Callan O’Keeffe, a former racing driver.