Wow, this is so sad to hear. My personal experience in Port Elizabeth was quite the opposite. I rode all over the place and felt quite comfortable and through some of the more rough places "so to speak". I want to think this is a one off, and not indicative of the general area which I found to be quite safe. Fredrik himself has been to South Africa many times both racing and training. I hope he is good to go to race the Ironman

absolutely disgusting to hear about. I'll bite my tongue, on this one and just say that I hope FVL heals quickly. Definitely rooting for him in SA now!!!

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Word has it from a friend in Belgium

"I texted with Fred Van Lierdes brother this morning. He has no physical injuries... but is trying to re-focus and be in top shape for next weekends IM South Africa.
I was shocked hearing it, as I was in contact with Fred earlier this week from Nice."

But high-level athletes is a weird thing. The stress of the incident has likely already wreaked havoc. I might even suggest passing on the Ironman if I was FVL personally. If you are knocked unconscious 8 days prior to one of the hardest endurance events on the planet and pushes the body to the brink of the cliff, why take a chance.

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Lotsa truth there.

Not sure about the physiological implications, but I almost hope he has no memories of the actual attack.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

And Dakar Rally is now in South America. Just sayin'

He is a very tough guy. Mentally and physically

Oh I know he is. And that is the thing, often times IMHO athletes are too tough to know when to cry uncle. We have seen it in American football, I don't see why Ironman shouldn't be any different. I admire his willingness to fight and I don't really know the extent of the circumstances but I still think it is a lot, stress is stress and no doubt his body is trying to absorb all the training and now he has to add this on top of it.

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South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world. So what's the surprise here?

From what I understand from my Saffa mates, PE was supposedly safe as houses. Evidently not. I can't imagine it would affect the World Champs would it?

Its generally safe especially along Marine Drive and race area, all large houses. Where he was attacked is somewhat of a bush area....certain parts of the city have a different vibe and i personally wouldn't want to be walking around by myself

SA has 50% unemployment, so there will always be folks out there who would rob you to put food on the table unfortunately

Hoping to be there next year if I qualify for the world champs.

I was not thinking that South Africa or the town is not safe. This sadly could happen anywhere.

In fact fellow Belgian pro Sofie Goos was stabbed in Belgium just about a year ago.

I've been telling you people that the P5X is a terrible bike. Even poor African robbers would rather steal an iPhone than that monstrosity of a bike.


Sincerely,
Publius Valerius
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Too soon?

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Clearly they were worried that there would be no buyers willing to ditch their Zipp 808 firecrests for disk brake equipped wheels and they would have to put it in a shipping container bound for a Boulder or San Diego based dentist

Yep....and FVL was quoted in that article.........

"Much strength and speedy recovery @sofiegoos after this terrible news" tweeted 2013 Ironman World Champion Frederik Van Lierde."

I wish there'd been a good-guy with a gun, there.

From the description of the location of the 2nd biker attacked that same day, it was on a bend of Victoria drive where slum shacks are by the side of the road. This was easy to find and verify with google maps and the 'little man' cursor; and it is not part of the bike course which turns off Victoria drive onto Sardinia Bay. You would have had to continue up Victoria a few more miles to get to that point. My guess is that FVL and this other guy were either heading to the course from PE coming down Victoria Drive instead of starting on Marine Drive or where returning home that way.

No its not part of the bike course but i think it was part of the original bike course when we came down to marine drive via that route?

I obviously have no real standing to give FVL advice, but I'd echo what Thomas says. Don't underestimate the effects of being concussed. He'll likely be fine, but negotiating a bike course at high speeds and going that far into the tank while nursing a healing brain seems like a bad call. I had a mid level concussion years ago and thought I was fine within a few weeks after. Funny thing though was that I kept misplacing keys, leaving my car lights on, forgetting to set my alarm, etc for month's afterward.