Iserbyt suffers from nerve pain in his leg every day: "This is not an injury, it is my way of life"

Eli Iserbyt posted a statement on his Instagram page about his nerve pain, which forced him to give up Sunday at the Namen World Cup. The Belgian cyclo-cross rider has been plagued by an annoying injury called Piriformis syndrome for two years, but nobody knows what to do about it.

In Herentals, Iserbyt had another small victory, picking up bonus seconds and breaking Van der Haar to become the leader in the overall ranking of the X2O Trophy. Sunday, he dropped out due to nerve pain and a stupid crash. "I wasn't really into that race because my left leg was bothering me a lot because of that nerve pain. That's something I've been struggling with for the last few years. I tried to fix that, but I couldn't," he told IDLProCycling.com. Now, he gave more details about the injury in a statement.

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Vanthourenhout and Iserbyt

Iserbyt has leg pain every day, but no answer or solution yet

"The story begins two years ago," the Belgian starts his story. "I started the CX season of 2022 with discomfort in my left leg. It would pass, I guessed. 'Little did I know that this was the beginning of a frustrating search for relief. That feeling of discomfort turned into pain, and that pain resulted in a loss of power. After many frustrating moments, I was left with countless unanswered questions: what is it? What can we do about it?"

The answer to this day: not much. "From waking up to going to bed, the pain was, and still is, always there. It is caused by a nerve in my left leg. But what exactly causes this nerve pain? To this day, I still don't have an answer to that."

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Fighting against the enemy within 

Iserbyt began his career with a simple goal: to push his body to its limits. He wanted to beat all opponents, to be better than the rest. He tried to give everything every time to achieve the best possible result. "Today, that enemy is in my own body. For the past two years, I have been fighting against that enemy. With the support of a team around me, we have reduced the pain and minimized the loss of power. But sometimes, the enemy inside takes control. The pain becomes unbearable. That's what happened last Sunday in Namur. Dropping out of the race was the only solution."

It sounds unbelievable, but Iserbyt says he has learned to endure the pain. And still, he performs as an elite athlete. "I have learned to give it a place in my life. Even as I write this, I have already changed my sitting position five times and stretched my leg 10 times. I've lost races in pain, but most importantly, I've won. That sense of victory gives me the courage to keep training, keep going, and pushing forward."

"This is not an injury, it has become my way of life"

The Belgian ends his statement by thanking all his loved ones. "Every day, I train to make the people around me proud. The people who help me through this process. From my wife and family to my team, trainer, doctors, physical therapists, and mental coach. They all play a part in this story. This is not an injury; it has become my way of life over the past two years. I remain hopeful for the races to come and will continue to push as hard as ever to get good results," Iserbyt concluded.

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