Giovanni Visconti escapes serious injury after crashing into Groupama-FDJ car at 60kmh at Giro d'Italia

Bahrain-Merida's Giovanni Visconti escaped without serious injuries after crashing into the back of a Groupama-FDJ team car at 60kmh on stage six of the Giro d'Italia.

The Italian rider suffered cuts and bruises to his shoulder, elbow, arm, hip, knee, and ankle down the left-hand side of his body as he crashed into the team car while fetching bottles behind the peloton on Thursday's stage to Mount Etna.

Visconti, who is riding in his 13th Grand Tour, explained how he rode into the back of the team car as the driver hit the brakes with approximately 50km to go on the stage.

>>> Giro d'Italia teams endure five hour transfer from Mount Etna after ferry breaks down

After hitting the car, Visconti said that he was lucky not to go through the back window, instead he was sent flying through the air and admitted that he feared for his life in the crash.

"I was riding at 60 kilometres per hour as I was going to get water bottles behind the car. The Groupama-FDJ car slammed on the brakes and I hit it full on," Visconti explained to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I could have gone through the rear window but I ended up flying in the air. I don't know how many metres. I consider myself very lucky. I have pain all over the left side of my body."

This incident is not the first involving a rider and a car in the 2018 Giro d'Italia, with Roy Curvers throwing a water bottle at a Shimano neutral service car close to the end of stage five after the driver made contact as he attempted to drive past.

>>> Whole Wilier Triestina team help Edoardo Zardini finish Giro stage with broken collarbone

However Visconti said that he was not angry with the driver of the Groupama-FDJ team car, who had come to apologise immediately after the crash.

"The car stopped, they came to me and apologised," Visconti continued. "When I fell I hit my head but it was not their fault, possibly just a moment of distraction, but since then I've been thinking that I have escaped."