Chloe Dygert, the young US star who lit up last year's Worlds in Yorkshire, suffered a catastrophic injury to her leg during a crash at the World Championships in Imola today.
The 23-year-old, who won the Worlds junior TT and road crowns back in 2015 and claimed the elite TT title in Yorkshire last year, was on course to retain her title today when she crashed.
Dygert was negotiating a sweeping right descending bend
at speed when she appeared to lose control of the front end of her bike,
possibly as a result of a puncture.
She stayed upright initially and veered to her left, hitting a guard rail before crashing over it and down into a ravine.
Her USA Cycling support vehicle was right behind her at the time and immediately stopped to rush to her aid.
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News from the course was that she was conscious when taken away by ambulance but photographs that have been circulated by some media outlets showed a very significant gash to her left leg just above her knee cap.
USA Cycling confirmed a number of hours after the crash
that Dygert “sustained a laceration to her left leg”.
“We are relieved that this crash was not worse than what
it could have been. While this crash is distressing, Chloe is young and a
fighter,” said Jim Miller, USA Cycling’s chief of sport performance.
“With Chloe’s determination, we know she will be back
riding before we know it. For now, we want her to focus on healing.”
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USA Cycling added Dygert was “immediately treated by event medics” at the site of the crash.
It said she was transported to a hospital in Bologna for
surgery and that she was out of surgery and was “resting comfortably and is
expected to make a full recovery”.
Kristin Armstrong, Dygert’s personal coach, said she
believed the young rider would come back to the sport “in even better form”.
Armstrong added: “Chloe is a gifted athlete. She’s had
accidents in the past and returned stronger than ever. I have no doubt that
this will be the case again.”
However, the nature of the injury, especially the size of
wound to her left leg, clearly showed it was on the upper end of the scale for
such a crash injury.
The guard rail Dygert hit, which was a permanent safety feature to prevent vehicles crashing off the road, was not padded at the point she hit it.
The American rider was on course to retain her title on
the 31.7km flat out and back course. At a time check after 14.9km she was by
far the fastest in the field.
Dygert was 26.54 seconds quicker than Swiss rider Marlen Reusser
and 36.25 seconds up of Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen.
When Dygert crashed and was forced out, being stretchered off the course, Van de Breggen went on to claim gold in a time of 40:20, some 15 seconds up on Reusser and 31 seconds up on Ellen van Dijk, who made it a 1-3 for Holland.
There were no Irish riders in the women’s elite TT field
today.
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