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Trek-Segafredo sports director Steven De Jongh found unconscious after going missing during bike ride in SpainSteven De Jonghh (picture via Team Sky)

Trek-Segafredo sports director Steven De Jongh found unconscious after going missing during bike ride in Spain

Dutch ex-pro's wife appealed for help after his Strava stopped updating during morning ride from Girona...
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Oct 15, 2018 18:02
8

Trek-Segafredo sports director Steven De Jongh has been found unconscious after police in Spain launched a search for him when he was reported missing during a bike ride from Girona earlier today.

The 44-year-old former pro, who served as sports director at Team Sky from 2010-12, was reported missing by his wife Renée Meijer on Twitter earlier today.

She shared details of his ‘morning ride’ posted to Strava, which showed that he stopped moving at around 10.30 this morning around 63 kilometres into his ride, near La Bisbal d'Empordà.

Shortly after 5pm UK time this evening, she tweeted again to say that he had been found by helicopter and was breathing and has a pulse.

He is reported to have been taken to hospital.

Steven De Jongh
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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8 comments

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dottigirl | 5 years ago
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If you read the actual article, it's clear he wasn't using Beacon, or his wife was not following him there .

In fact, if you click through, someone tells his wife the ride is on Strava.

 

https://www.twitter.com/bvredevoort/status/1051846894668910593

Avatar
Miller | 5 years ago
2 likes

As PRSboy notes, he must have been using Strava Beacon. This allows another person to track your progress in real time. His wife must either have been alert enough (or bored enough) to have been tracking him and raise an alarm when his dot stayed stopped for a while, or (I'm speculating but this seems likely) he had Garmin Incident Detection enabled.

"When paired with a compatible mobile device, devices that have Garmin's Incident Detection feature have the ability to send an alert to your emergency contacts in the event of an accident."

I'm glad he's ok. Bit of a coup for Garmin.

Avatar
Mb747 | 5 years ago
0 likes

Article says he was found with concussion, not he was unconscious

You can still move around and do things with even severe concussion, something like saving a ride and moving off the road is probably done without thinking too much about it

 

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fukawitribe replied to Mb747 | 5 years ago
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Mb747 wrote:

Article says he was found with concussion, not he was unconscious

You can still move around and do things with even severe concussion, something like saving a ride and moving off the road is probably done without thinking too much about it

 

Article (now) says he was found unconscious, the update article also has a quote from the team saying "Late afternoon a helicopter found Steven lying in a ravine, unconscious, but with a pulse and breathing. De Jongh was brought to consciousness by the paramedics and transported to the hospital in Girona" - so probably unconscious.

Avatar
PRSboy | 5 years ago
3 likes

As an aside, there is Strava Beacon, which can be enabled to allow people to see your progress and location... handy for such situations.

I guess the Garmin would have autouploaded the ride when it was stopped, but that would need to be done by someone.  Reminds me of that jersey which says "if I crash please pause my Strava"

Avatar
dottigirl | 5 years ago
1 like

Something feels weird about this. Have read on Twitter that he was found in a different place to where the ride finished. Also that the ride has been edited since. Someone must have stopped the ride, and uploaded it. How would there be a signal in a ravine? Was his bike with him? Rumours of brake marks close to where he was found.
He apparently can't remember.

I'm sure there's a simple explanation. Absolutely. Must be.

Avatar
Organon | 5 years ago
0 likes

I hope he is is alright, too early to know. But I wonder, how can she use Strava to see him, if he didn't upload?

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dottigirl replied to Organon | 5 years ago
0 likes
Organon wrote:

I hope he is is alright, too early to know. But I wonder, how can she use Strava to see him, if he didn't upload?

His ride stopped and uploaded to Strava.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1906026291

Not sure how this happened with a Garmin 1000. Anyone?

It's not clear if that's where he was found either, or how the accident happened yet.

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