Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins was recently released from a hospital after being hit by a car in Lancashire, England. The 32-year-old professional cyclist is the winner of the 2012 Tour de France and the first ever English winner of the famous race. He is also the first cyclist to have won an Olympic track cycling gold medal and a Grand Tour in the same year.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and messages over the last 48 hours, and of course all the staff at the Royal Preston Hospital who looked after me so well,” Wiggins said in a statement. “Although I’m still a little bit sore I will now be spending time at home with my family and concentrating on making a full recovery.”
Wiggins’ bicycle accident came a mere 12 hours before his 55-year-old coach was also hit by a car while cycling. Shane Sutton suffered severe head and brain injuries.
Sutton was reported as suffering from bleeding in the brain and also a cheek fracture. He is recovering however and opted not to undergo surgery for his cheek injury.
“They were going to do surgery on the cheekbone but I’ve opted against that because it’s not like I need it to be honest,” Sutton said. “It’s a pretty clean fracture.”
Sutton also added that the fact that he was wearing a helmet prevented his personal injuries from being worse.
“The surgeon came in and said, ‘You know that saved your life?'” Sutton said.
“It is extremely rare that our riders and coaches are hurt while out cycling on the road, even rarer that two incidents should occur in a short space of time, and we wish Shane and Bradley a speedy recovery,” British Cycling said in a statement.
British police cited the driver who hit Wiggins with driving without due care and attention.
Source: The Independent, “‘Sore’ Bradley Wiggins thanks well-wishers,” Nov. 10, 2012
