Conn McDunphy, the Irish elite men’s TT champion, has arrived home in Ireland from his French base after his season-ending crash during a race last weekend.
The 23-year-old suffered serious injuries in that crash and was airlifted from the scene. He suffered injuries to his skull and must now wear a rigid body brace.
However, he told stickybottle he believed he would recover
in the weeks ahead and was upbeat about his prospects and about being home.
“It was some contrast to the previous week,” he said of winning the national title in Knockaderry, Co Limerick, just over two weeks ago and then suffering such a bad crash just a week later.
“I was in the front group of 20 guys after getting over all the climbs, then next thing I know I wake up in hospital,” he explained of the crash in the one-day race.
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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.
McDunphy was knocked out for a period due to the crash
and was airlifted to Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon, where he has been for
the past week before arriving home on a flight on Thursday morning.
“My DS Nico Louis was looking after me
until now,” he said of his CC Nogent-sur-Oise manager.
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“I'm now able to walk while holding onto
things. But a massive hematoma on my neck is causing headaches. I should be
good in a few weeks though.”
McDunphy, who has represented Ireland on the road in recent years, sustained a skull fracture in the occipital bone, which is at the bottom of the back of the skull.
While his brace looks cumbersome and will effectively force
him to do very little for the next six weeks, there is no damage to his spine.
CC Nogent sur Oise
issued a statement, calling McDunphy a “warrior” and expressing its relief he
had been discharged from hospital.
“He left the
hospital with the neurosurgeon
green light and now starts a minimum 6-week recovery, while the skull
fracture consolidates, before starting a rehab period,” the team said.
“The
coming weeks will be tricky because he's going to have to accommodate his new friend, a rigid brace that makes his
daily life (challenging).
“But
knowing the warrior, he won't give up
in the face of the challenge and we'll soon find him in fully
and motivated as never before.”
Before the crash McDunphy had just enjoyed the result of
his career at the nationals when he won the elite TT by two seconds from
Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb), with Lindsay Watson (Powerhouse Sport) in 3rd at
22 seconds. McDunphy also went on to finish 8th in the men’s road
race two days after his TT title win.
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