Annemiek van Vleuten of Netherlands competes in the final of the women’s road race at Fort Copacabana before her horrific crash, August 7, 2016.
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On Sunday a Dutch cyclist, named Annemiek van Vleuten, was competing in the women’s road race and was leading the pack by 40 seconds with about 12 miles left when things took a bad turn!
Van Vleuten had the solo lead when she overcooked a corner on the Vista Chinesa descent and then somersaulted over her handlebars.
Moments later, footage showed van Vleuten laying motionless on the floor with paramedics surrounding her.
The Post-Star was not able to talk to her after the race, but leading up to the Olympics, Guarnier said the course was one of the hardest she had seen in her 10-year career. Van Vleuten even sent some tweets about her condition.
Victor of the women’s road World Cup in 2011, van Vleuten was riding as a teammate to Vos, Anna van der Breggen and Ellen van Dijk on Sunday.
On Saturday Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali broke both his collar bones when he crashed on the same descent while leading the men’s race.
She was expected to spend at least 24 hours in intensive care in a Rio hospital before doctors decide the next steps. “We knew this was way past this being a technical, this was risky”. She tumbled onto the road and her bike went flying, and she remained on the edge of the pavement as the rest of the field swept past.
The Guardian reported that Van Vleuten was kept overnight in the hospital’s intensive care with a concussion and three cracks in her spine. “I thought she was dead”. I saw Annemiek lie and that did not look good.
It was van der Breggen who pipped Johansson to the gold medal, leaving Borghini in third.
Its descent also played havoc on Saturday with the men’s road race.
U.S. cyclist Mara Abbott then took over the lead, but van der Breggen teamed up with Johansson and Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini to chase her down.
“Of course, when you see her like that it is a big shock”.
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Douglas had shaken off a sub-par performance in Olympic trials and quieted critics who were convinced she didn’t deserve to make this team.
