The Dutch rider will continue her stay in hospital as she recovers from a heavy crash in the women's Olympic road race on Sunday
Annemiek van Vleuten is continuing to recover in hospital from a heavy crash in the women’s Rio 2016 Olympic road race on Sunday.
According to a statement from the Royal Dutch Cycling Union (KNWU), the 33-year-old will remain in hospital in Rio de Janeiro until further notice.
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The KNWU’s chief doctor Cees Rein van den Hoogenband visited van Vleuten in hospital and said: “She’s recovering well. An MRI scan has confirmed that there is no further injury.
“The most important thing it is absolute peace necessary at this time,” he finished.
The rider herself tweeted from hospital to thank fans for their messages and expressed her disappointment about how her race ended.
Thanks for all the messages. Hard to deal with my disappointment but also proud about our performance #teamNL pic.twitter.com/9uRaRniFV6
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) August 9, 2016
The crash on the final descent, from a potentially gold-medal-winning position, looked extremely severe at the time which makes the relative lack of serious injury a welcome surprise.
In the end, van Vleuten’s compatriot Anna van der Breggen took gold for the Netherlands, with Emma Johansson (Sweden) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) rounding out the medals.