Blanka Vas breaks collarbone just as European season gets serious

Multi-discipline star Blanka Kata Vas (SD Worx) has suffered an untimely setback as the cyclocross season gets into full swing and will require surgery for a broken collarbone after a training crash. 

The young Hungarian underwent surgery on her collarbone on the evening of her injury in Herentals, Belgium. This will likely impact of her CX season before it even began, with at least a few weeks of recovery time needed.

“Unfortunately, Blanka Vas crashed today during a cyclocross training session,” said SD Worx on X formerly Twitter. “She will undergo surgery on her collarbone in Herentals tonight. Get well soon, Blanka!”

Vas took a huge step up in terms of road performance in 2023, claiming her first two Women’s WorldTour wins at the Tour de Suisse and Giro Donne, before capping off the road season by being the highest-placed U23 in the World Championships road race and taking the rainbow jersey.

She opened her cyclocross account last Sunday at the GP Oisterwijk, where she took victory ahead of Aniek van Alphen (Cyclocross Reds) and Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) with over a one-minute winning gap to her fellow podium finishers. 

Vas' crash meant she missed the second Belgian CX race of the autumn at the Kermiscross Ardooie on Thursday, a race she won last year ahead of fellow multi-discipline talent Shirin van Anrooij (Baloise Trek Lions/Lidl Trek).

The women’s start list included Van Alphen and Annemarie Worst (Fenix-Deceuninck), with the former European Champion taking the win. While Michael Vanthourenhout and Eli Iserbyt will be favourites in the men’s race both riding for Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal.

The cyclocross season will continue deep into autumn and winter with the races increasing in frequency and importance in the next three months. 

The Belgian Superprestige series of races kicks off this Sunday at the Overijse - Vlaamse Druivencross.

This year's Superprestige series includes eight races between October to February with the X2O Badkamers Trofee series set to start in November and operate in a similar timeframe.

Vas will also miss out on a number of the UCI World Cup Cyclocross races in Europe that start at the end of October in Maasmechelen, Belgium, before subsequent rounds in France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

The 22-year-old will hopefully be able to return to the cross calendar before the World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic in February.