Conn McDunphy, who became Irish elite men’s TT champion the week before last, is recovering in hospital in France after being involved in a serious crash during a race yesterday.
McDunphy was knocked out during the crash and also suffered damage to his skull.
However, while the crash was a heavy one and he was airlifted to hospital from the scene, the 23-year-old was, thankfully, expected to make a full recovery.
He was racing for his French team CC Nogent-sur-Oise in the Arbent-Bourg-Arbent - a 166km Coupe de France N1 race – when he crashed hard with about 30km to go.
There was concern for him when it was clear he had been knocked out, though it appears he came around after approximately 10 minutes.
Medics were on
the scene quickly and a decision was taken to airlift the Irish rider from the
scene and take him to Edouard Herriot Hospital
in Lyon.
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“It was very long,” team
official Nicolas Louis told DirectVelo of the period that McDunphy lost
consciousness.
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"He will stay at least
two days under observation, says his sports director who is at his side. He has
a skull fracture in the occipital bone,” he added of the bone at the bottom of
the back of the skull.
“There is no lesion in the
spine. There is no injury to the spine. He will have a neck brace for six
weeks.
“He shouldn't have an
operation. There is nothing broken, and nothing neurologically based on the
exams done on Sunday night.”
McDunphy, who has represented Ireland on the road at U23 level, claimed the elite men’s TT title at the National Road Championships in Knockaderry, Co Limerick, just last Thursday week.
He recorded a time of 26:29 on the 22.4km course in the Newcastle West Wheelers promotion to take the Irish title.
That was just two seconds faster than Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), with Lindsay Watson (Powerhouse Sport) in 3rd some 22 seconds off McDunphy’s winning time.
McDunphy's club in Ireland, Lucan CRC, extended its best wishes to him for a speedy and full recovery. Stickybottle echoes that and hopes to see the Irish champion back on the bike as soon as possible.
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