Silvestri will recover after Sanremo crash, but seriously injured

One of the AG Insurance-Soudal Team could be seen pointing down onto the off-road ramp to where Debora Silvestri lay stricken after her awful crash over the guard rail

Debora Silvestri (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), whose awful crash in Milan-Sanremo was shown live on TV, is conscious and recovering in hospital.

And though she has been left with a litany of injuries, she has taken to social media to assure people she will get back to the peloton in time.

"Thanks for the many, many messages I received," she said. "Sure not the final I had imagined... I feel quite good. Five ribs broken and micro fracture on shoulder, could be worse. Time to recover but no worries, I will come back."

The Italian rider was one of a number of riders to crash on the descent of the Cipressa with just under 20km to go. Silvestri arrived at the scene when others were already down, hitting them and being sent over the guard rail.

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She then flew through the air, dropping to the road below - perhaps a driveway into a property - and for a moment it looked like she was not moving.

Other riders spotted her and gestured to the TV cameras and official race vehicles to alert them to the fact the Italian had crashed down off the race route and onto the road below.

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Polish champion Kasia Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto) was also involved in the crash, as well as British champion Millie Couzens (Fenix-Premier Tech), though it appears there were no other reports of broken bones.

Niewiadoma, who looked bloodied and dazed at the scene, and was helped by Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), who said the victims of the crash did not look good at the scene.

"Everyone came and fell in front of us. At that point, I knew the race was over. My first thought was to go and check if she's OK because she didn't look good," she said.

"I asked if she was OK, she was reacting. But I think she hit her head. I think she maybe went too fast. It's a blind corner, so I couldn't see around the corner when she crashed, but they didn't look good."

 

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