Tour de France stage winner leaves hospital, one month after being hit by car driver

Bora-Hansgrohe’s Lennard Kämna has left hospital after being hit by a car driver during a training ride in Tenerife last month. 

According to a press release from his team on Wednesday, the Tour de France stage winner is due to fly home to Hamburg in Germany to begin his recovery after the incident. He will receive further treatment from the Bora-Hansgrohe medical department at the BG Klinikum.

"Thank you for all the support over the past few weeks,” Kämna said in the message from Bora-Hansgrohe. "I would especially like to thank my girlfriend and my family who have done everything to make me feel as comfortable as possible. 

"It has not been an easy time at the University Hospital in Tenerife, but I am very grateful to the medical team and nurses for what they have done for me over the past few weeks. I am overjoyed that the first step of my recovery has been completed today and that I can now move on to Hamburg.

"I will start my rehab there and I am highly motivated to get back on the bike as soon as possible. But the most important thing is to get healthy again."

The German rider was in the process of preparing for the upcoming Giro d’Italia before being struck by the car driver. 

According to his team, Kämna suffered "numerous injuries, especially to his chest" and he underwent "successful surgery" last week in Tenerife. 

At the time of the incident, an initial message from Bora explained that Kämna had been hit by the driver after they turned left into his lane. He was riding with teammates and coaches at the time, but nobody else was injured. 

Kämna is part of a select group of over 100 riders to have won stages in all three Grand Tours. The 27-year-old won a stage of the Tour de France in 2020, before winning a stage of the Giro two years later. He then won a stage at the Vuelta a España last September. 

Before heading to the Giro, he was due to ride the recent Tour of the Alps, a race in which he has also regularly tasted stage winning success in recent years.