Lauren Dolan finishes World Championships race despite horrendous crash injuries

Great Britain junior rider Lauren Dolan crashed during the junior women's time trial suffering lacerations to her leg, but got back on a replacement bike to finish with a respectable time

Lauren Dolan defied some nasty crash injuries to complete the junior women’s individual time trial at the 2017 UCI Road World Championships on Monday.

Dolan was one of the early starters for the race, and posted a quick time through the first intermediate time check as the rain fell. However, she crashed heavily after reportedly hitting a pothole at the mid-way point of the 16.1-kilometre course around Bergen, Norway.

She slid on her right side, lacerating her thigh and knee and sustaining road rash. Dolan got up and then completed the course on a road bike as her time trial machine was damaged.

Amazingly, Dolan finished only two minutes and 24 seconds down on eventual winner Elena Pirrone (Italy) to place 27th.

Dolan’s intermediate split times indicate that she was on a top 10 ride before the incident. Dolan’s GB team-mate Pfeiffer Georgi finished seventh.

>>> UCI Road World Championships 2017: Latest news, reports and race info

Dolan was taken to hospital in Bergen, where she received treatment for her injuries. She celebrated her 18th birthday the day after the race, on Tuesday.

Posting on her Twitter account on Tuesday, Dolan said: “I would just like to say a huge thank you to all the staff @BritishCycling, nurses and surgeons at Bergen hospital for fixing my wounds and to everyone for all your kind well wishes. I can’t thank you enough. I’m recovering well from surgery in hospital so should be home soon!”

She has been ruled out of taking part in the junior women’s road race on Friday, September 22, and is replaced by Lauren Murphy.