The news is a little more reassuring for Fabio Jakobsen. The day after his terrible fall in the final sprint of the first stage of the Tour of Poland, the state of the Deceuninck-Quick Step rider was stabilized overnight by doctors from the Sosnowiec hospital, not far from Katowice. Hit in the head and placed in an artificial coma, the young Dutchman (23) underwent a five-hour operation.
“A CT scan was done and the brain does not appear to have been damaged,” Pawel Gruenpeter, deputy director of Sosnowiec hospital, told Polish media. The main injuries are on the face. Fortunately, the eyes were not affected. His condition is serious but stable. Today (Thursday) we will try to get him out of the coma. “
Launched at 80 km / hour with the other sprinters in a downhill false flat, Fabio Jakobsen was thrown off the road by his compatriot Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma). He apologized on Thursday on his twitter account.
“I hate what happened yesterday. I can’t find the words to describe how sorry I am for Fabio and the others who fell or were hit.
At the moment, Fabio’s health is the most important thing. I think about him, constantly. “
Besides this one, several other competitors were victims of this racing accident. Among them, two French, Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ), who suffers from a major trauma to a shoulder and multiple ligament ruptures, and Damien Touzé (Cofidis), operated on for a triple fracture to an index finger.
The latter very harshly judged Groenewegen’s gesture. The Spaniard Eduard Prades (Movista) was hospitalized for a fractured vertebra (C6). Finally, the race marshal hit hard by Jakobsen “has regained consciousness and his condition is stable”, according to the organizer of the race, Czeslaw Lang.
At the end of the stage, Dylan Groenewegen was disqualified and the disciplinary commission of the International Cycling Union (UCI) must be seized of his case. His squad, Jumbo-Visma, also apologized on social media: “Our hearts go out to Fabio Jakobsen and everyone involved in today’s terrible crash at the Tour of Poland. Such accidents should not happen. We offer our sincere apologies. We will discuss internally what happened before making any further statements. “
