So risky was the course over the first two days of the cycling program at the Rio Games that the International Cycling Union was forced to defend it, pointing to a test event and numerous training opportunities that gave riders a chance to familiarize themselves with it. “We do our utmost to design safe, challenging courses but unfortunately crashes do sometimes occur due to a combination offactors”.
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The 33-year-old was 10km from Olympic gold when she tumbled over her handlebars and crashed into on a concrete curb on tricky descent that some have said was too risky for the Games. She would lie there motionless as other cyclists cruised past before help finallyarrived. “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”.
The cyclist was left in intensive care with her injuries, being rushed to hospital following the shocking incident.
On Saturday Nibali was also leading the men’s race when he crashed on the same section of road. Waiting for some research and hope I can leave today. “Knowing that this chance is 1 in 4 years, doesn’t make it easy”.
Still in the hospital.
‘The people who designed the course and said what safety features were needed had seen it as well and left it.
“I saw the 300-meters to go sign and I thought”. “This was way past technical, this was unsafe, and it means people who designed the course have seen it and left it”.
Van Vleuten was taken from the course in an ambulance and there were unconfirmed reports from the Dutch chef de mission, Maurits Hendriks, saying she was conscious.
Van der Breggen thrust her arms in the air as thousands of fans lining the course roared approval, and a light mist that had been threatening for hours finally began to fall.
This is the second cycling crash on that part of the track in as many days.
A horrendous crash has marred the finale of the women’s cycling road race.
NBC Sports notes that a year ago on August 7th, 2015, van Vleuten was hit by a auto while out on a ride, suffering three broken ribs and a broken collarbone. “The most important thing is that absolute rest is necessary at this time”, Dutch team doctor Cees Rein said on the Dutch Cycling Federation website.
No news yet on her recovery program or outlook for the future, but from her latest tweet it seems that Annemiek van Vleuten is very keen to move on from this disappointment.
“I thought we were not going to catch her”, she said.
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“She’s super-tough, she was almost killed past year when she was hit by a vehicle …”
