Van Vleuten was taken to a Rio hospital where “severe concussion and three small fractures in her lumbar spine” were diagnosed, according to the Dutch cycling federation KNWU. Van Vleuten was descending smoothly and had left Abbott in her wake and was nearly at the bottom when she locked her wheels and went head first into the banking on the side of the road. “I think she crashed hard”, der Breggen told The Guardian. “She is fully conscious and her reactions are adequate”.
Advertisement
On the bright side, her teammate Anna van der Breggen ended up coming from behind and taking home the gold for the Netherlands, so at least Annemiek can be happy about that!
Please Wait while comments are loading.
Former Olympic champion Chris Boardman condemned the treacherous course following can Vleuten’s crash.
Villumsen, who said before the race she would take a chance if it presented itself, failed to go with the quintet when they made their move 17km from the finish.
Dutch team chef de mission Maurits Hendriks was quoted as saying van Vleuten had regained consciousness and was in an ambulance. “We knew we had to do it”.
The crash put Abbott into the lead by 40 seconds with fewer than 10 kilometers left in the race.
“It’s a hard descent because you can go really fast but you also have to corner”, she said. ‘I really hope she’s OK, ‘ she added.
In video clips of the cringeworthy moment, spectators can be heard gasping as van Vleuten remains motionless on the ground.
He said: “I’m actually quite angry about it because I looked at the road furniture and thought nobody can crash here and get up”.
‘I went down and had a look at the course and saw those edges.
Following this nasty fall, this left the American Abbott as the leader with over half a minute advantage over the chasing group of Borghini, Van der Breggen and Johansson heading into the final 10km.
“Annemiek was leading but I realised I was now first in the team. If you see her like that, it changes everything”. On Saturday, Australian Richie Porte fell on a high speed corner and fractured his shoulder, meaning he would not compete in Wednesday’s time trial.
Advertisement
But then van der Breggen, Johansson and Borghini tracked her down just before she got to the line.
