'The helmet saved my life' - Matej Mohorič after his dramatic crash at the Giro d'Italia 2021
The Slovenian all-rounder was lucky to escape serious injury
Matej Mohorič says that his helmet saved his life after crashing out of the Giro d'Italia 2021 on stage nine in dramatic fashion.
Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) was very lucky to escape serious injury with the rider from Slovenia coming away from the crash with slight concussion and some bruises, after he was flipped into the air, landing on his head and snapping the forks of his bike.
He was taken away in an ambulance on a stretcher with a neck brace as a precautionary step.
In an update on his condition, Bahrain Victorious confirmed that Mohorič will return to training in a week's time if all is well after the UCI concussion protocol has been passed.
Mohorič said: "We entered the corner on the limit at high speed. My racing line wasn’t perfect as I didn’t take all the road. I planned to overtake Gino [Mäder, his team-mate] at the exit and go into the front. The corner surprised me, and it was closer than expected. I lost traction on my rear wheel due to the high speed. I was able to catch the bike, but doing so, I was closer to the corner on my left.
"Usually, I wouldn’t crash, but due to the curb, I clipped it with my left pedal, which is evident from the damage. Because of that, my bike went completely sideways, and I hit the curb with my front wheel. Luckily the bike absorbed all the energy as it the fork split, which is why I’ve come out of this crash with only minor bruises and a slight concussion.
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"After the crash, I felt a bit of pain and adrenaline rush, but I feel good and will be back training in a week after undergoing the UCI concussion protocol. These crashes always show the importance of wearing a helmet. I’d like to thank our partner Rudy Project, as the helmet saved my life."
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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