Damien Touzé (Cofidis) looks set to be out of action for quite some time - his 2026 season already over - after his high-speed crash on stage 4 at the recent Tour of Oman. He hit the roadside barrier and was left in serious condition in hospital.
His injuries were so extreme his wife flew to Muscat to be at his bedside before he could be repatriated from Oman back to Europe to continue his recovery. He has lost 10kg and said: "I even thought I might never make it home".
His team said at the time he had suffered "a ruptured spleen and multiple injuries to his leg: fractured tibia, rupture of the medial and lateral collateral ligaments and anterior cruciate ligament."
And now the 29-year-old has been telling his story, saying while he is now out of danger, he was left with multiple horrific injuries.
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“My foot was next to my thigh… I thought to myself that this wasn’t normal. And then I felt a really intense pain in my stomach,” he recently told Ouest-France.
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"Instantly, I managed to get up. But what was the most shocking thing of all was my leg, because my foot was twisted round next to my thigh. I told myself that wasn't normal.
“At first, they didn't see that I had a hole in my intestine, which worsened my condition. I had the beginnings of peritonitis, a high fever, and I went more than ten days without eating.”
Touzé said while he was operated on Oman, he had to undergo further surgery in Belgium, to effectively catch other series issues.
“At first, they didn't see that I had a hole in my intestine, which worsened my condition. I had the beginnings of peritonitis, a high fever, and I went more than ten days without eating. There (Oman) they hadn't closed the abdominal wall; it was as if I were ripped open.
"I am open from the sternum to the lower abdomen. I went more than ten days without eating."
He now needs another operation, on his knee, and will be out of action, pending full rehabilitation, for up to eight months. And that means his season is over already, though he is more concerned about whether he will ever be able to race at a high level again.
