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07th Aug 2016

Cyclist miraculously escapes serious injury after this frightening crash in Rio

A lucky escape

Darragh Murphy

Annemiek van Vleuten took a sickening fall in the women’s road race on Sunday evening.

Leading with 11 km to go, the Dutch cyclist lost control of her bike while taking a downhill corner.

Van Vleuten tumbled face-first over the handlebars and landed on her head on the pavement, seemingly being knocked unconscious on impact.

And while the race was still taking place, nobody seemed to quite care who took the gold as all were united in concern for van Vleuten.

Thankfully, the 33-year-old regained consciousness and was taken to the hospital according to the Dutch cycling federation and the sporting community breathed a sigh of relief as this could have turned out much worse.

https://twitter.com/SadhbhOS/status/762369878695247872

https://twitter.com/JimboSlice_MMA/status/762369498250878977

Van Vleuten’s crash comes a day after British cyclist Geraint Thomas crashed out of his road race, just 10km from the finish line. Thomas was in contention for a position on the podium when he crashed on the final descent of the race, tumbling into a ditch after Vincenzo Nibali and Sergio Henao had also came of their bikes.

 

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