February is proving to be a rough month to be a former pro cyclist. Thomas Dekker shared that he was mugged on his way to McDonald’s this week while visiting Brussels in Belgium. Dekker’s assault comes just over a week after Nicolas Roche was also robbed.
Dekker, thankfully, got off much easier than Roche. The Dutch ex-pro shared his story on his Live Slow, Ride Fast podcast, saying two men confronted him when he was on his way to McDonalds. He lost 15 Euros and two pockets on his pants.
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After crossing the street to avoid one man trying to sell him drugs, Dekker shares with a laugh, two different men approached him. “They both ripped open a pocket,” stealing his hotel keys and the small amount of cash.
Dekker wasn’t taking his mugging without a fight.
“I had a can of Coke in my hand, which I threw at the face of one. I knocked the other one down with a fist,” Dekker recounts. That seemed to scare the thieves off, leaving Dekker slightly poorer and two pockets down.
He didn’t even get his McDonalds.
While Dekker’s experience is funny in hindsight, Roche’s incident was more serious. The former Grand Tour racer was physically attacked by two men outside a restaurant who appeared to be after his watch. His girlfriend and two security guards nearby intervened before the assault caused serious damage. Roche still called it the”Biggest fright of my life.”