On Monday morning, van Vleuten posted on Twitter about her accident: “I am now in the hospital with some injuries and fractures, but will be fine”.
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Van Vleuten reportedly suffered three small fractures in her spine and was moved to an intensive care ward for treatment and monitoring. The 26-year-old was “terribly” shocked by teammate Annemiek van Vleuten’s crash, to the point that she thought Van Vleuten had died, she said to NOS after the race. “She is conscious and talking”.
Eventual victor Anna van der Breggen, van Vleuten’s teammate, was in tears, being consoled by silver medalist Emma Johansson of Sweden and bronze medalist Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy before she stepped to accept her gold medal.
On Saturday, Italian cyclist Vincenzo broke both collar bones when he crashed during the men’s race.
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Van Vleuten’s compatriot Anna van der Breggen won the women’s race. After passing her within sight of the finish line, the Dutchwoman had just enough kick to win the sprint along Copacabana Beach.
While in the lead late in the race Van Vleuten curved around a bend, flipped over her own bike and landed on her neck. “I think I took a little bit of risk, but not too much, and I think this was the best decision because if you’re on the ground, the race is over”. “Terrible, it scared me senseless”, she said to the broadcaster.
Another viewer said: “The fact that @NBCOlympics hasn’t updated Annemiek Van Vleuten’s condition yet worries me”.
Leslie-Pelecky said that, based on the video, it looked like van Vleuten’s crash started when her front wheel crossed the painted line on the road.
“We knew the descent was treacherous”, he added.
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“A 20cm deep drop off at the edge of the road and sharp concrete edges running exposed for 99 per cent of the descent at a point in the race where crashes were going to happen, was not acceptable”. “This was way past technical, this was risky, and it means people who designed the course have seen it and left it”.
