“I am now in the hospital with some injuries and fractures, but will be fine. Most of all super disappointed after best race of my career,” Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten, 33, tweeted on August 7 from Rio, Brazil. The message came a few hours after she lost control of her bike at approximately 50mph during the Women’s Road Race. Annemiek was in first place when the scary crash happened, and more than likely would have won gold if the accident hadn’t happened. So sad.
Fans and spectators were extremely concerned about Annemiek after her crash left her unconscious on the side of the road. In a video from the incident, Annemiek can be seen going around a curve just moments before losing control of the bike. She rolls directly into a curb and flips over, falling off of her bike and landing in a ditch just off of the road.
As the camera passed her, Annemiek did not appear to be moving which is what raised so many concerns. Thankfully her message to fans let everyone know that she was recovering, despite the devastating loss.
Gold medalist Chris Boardman, a former road racing cyclist, expressed his anger over the crash and blamed the “dangerous” condition of the road they were on. “I’m actually quite angry about it because I looked at the road furniture and thought: ‘Nobody can crash here and get up.’ This was way past technical, this was dangerous, and it means people who designed the course have seen it and left it. I’m angry about it because I went down there and had a look at the course and saw those edges. We knew this was way past this being a technical, this was dangerous.”
Our thoughts are with Annemiek as she continues to recover.
Tell us, folks — Do YOU think the road was too dangerous to be racing on, or do you think this was just a terrible accident? Comment below with your thoughts.
hollywoodlife
0 Comments