Dylan Groenewegen has apologised to Fabio Jakobsen for the crash on yesterday’s opening stage of the Tour de Pologne and has himself undergone surgery for a broken collarbone.
Groenewegen’s sprinting – in coming off his line and also
leaning into Jakobsen – resulted in a serious crash, with Jakobsen ploughing
through the crowd control barriers and off the road.
The Dutch champion has suffered a litany of head and face injuries, though no spinal injury or brain damage has been detected to date.
He has already undergoing facial surgery in hospital in
Poland, where he remains in a medically induced coma.
Medics were expected to try to wake him tomorrow and his Deceuninck-QuickStep
team has said a full assessment of his injuries would only be possible when he
was awake.
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Groenewegen was disqualified, after crossing the line
first, and the stage was awarded to Jakobsen. In the absence of both riders
world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo) won today’s stage in a bunch
finish and now leads the race overall.
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Groenewegen now faces a period on the sidelines and also the prospect of being disciplined by the UCI.
“I find it terrible
what happened yesterday,” he said of the crash while recovering from his own
injuries in hospital.
“I can’t find the words to describe how sorry I am for
Fabio and the others who crashed or were involved. What matters most now is
Fabio’s health. I think about him all the time.”
Richard Plugge, the managing director of Jumbo Visma,
said he went to see Groenewegen in hospital today along with Merijn Zeeman, a
sports director with the team.
“Merijn Zeeman and I visited Dylan briefly this afternoon
in the hospital, where he had surgery on a broken collarbone,” Plugge confirmed
in a brief statement.
“We let him tell his story briefly. Dylan feels terrible
about what happened. He was deeply affected by it.
“Also for him the recovery of Fabio and the others who
were injured in this terrible crash is all that counts now. Soon we will
discuss the incident in detail with him. Our thoughts are with the victims and
we hope with all our heart for a good recovery.”
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