Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten fractured three vertebrae and suffered concussion in a disgusting crash on the Vista Chinesa descent close to the finish at the Copacabana beach.
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Van Vleuten, 33, tweeted she was hoping to leave hospital 24 hours after the crash, having earlier posted an update on her condition. But the four other women with a shot to win didn’t know that when they passed her crumpled and frighteningly inert form seconds later.
Van der Breggen swept past the motionless figure of van Vleuten lying on the side of the road after a horrrfic crash as she gave chase to Abbot alongside Emma Johansson of Sweden and Elise Longo Borghini of Italy. But the physical injuries might not be as painful as the disappointment of crashing while leading arguably the biggest race of Van Vleuten’s career.
Van der Breggen, while celebrating her victory, said her thoughts were with her injured teammate, said CNN. As it turns out, Annemiek van Vleuten cracked three vertebrae and sustained a concussion, reports Reuters.
Van Vleuten failed to negotiate a corner and chipped a curb, leading to the accident, said USA Today.
Armitstead said: “I can’t feel sorry for myself. I had a very hard crash three years ago, so I know what that means”.
She had backed off van Vleuten’s wheel not long before, trusting the same instincts that have twice delivered her the championship of the Giro Rosa, the most demanding and prestigious women’s stage race on the calendar. American Mara Abbott, a two-time Giro Rosa victor and considered the best female climber in the world, held on the longest and was able to get back onto Van Vleuten’s wheel just as the top was reached. “This was way past technical, this was unsafe, and it means people who designed the course have seen it and left it”.
“She was doing the ride of her life and was on fire but yeah, staying on the bike is part of the game and if some riders misjudge things that’s unfortunate”, he said. “Then I looked under my shoulder and they were right there”. She finished 23rd in the road race, so a gold here will be an uphill battle, so to speak. Exactly a year before the Olympic road race she was hit by a vehicle while at the team’s Livigno training camp in Italy.
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Three riders, working together behind her, caught Abbott just before she got to the line.
