"I don't remember the fall or anything from that day" - Paul Magnier talks about his scary Tour of Britain crash

Less than three weeks ago, Paul Magnier had just won three stages at the Tour of Britain. On the final day to Felixstowe, he was once again the overwhelming favourite for victory. However that wasn't to be. The Frenchman was victim to a crash with the likes of Tom Pidcock instead. What happened that day? The 20-year-old is so badly beat-up he doesn't even remember the events of the stage. Maybe for the better, looking at the consequences.

In an interview with L'Équipe it becomes clear how serious the damage actually was to Magnier. "The helmet saved me, that's for sure. I had no permanent problem with my brain, the scans showed nothing. I was warned that there were risks of dizziness or other things, but for now I'm doing fine," he says about the injury, which kept Taco van der Hoorn out for a year and a half, for example.

Magnier himself doesn't remember anything about the incident. "I don't remember the fall or anything. I have vague memories from before the race, but the day itself and the next day it's a black screen. And it will never come back. I would like to know what happened, but I don't know who was with me at that moment. Maybe next season a rider from the peloton will come and explain everything to me," the youngster describes the scary side of a fall on the head.

Not only was the head badly damaged, Magnier explains. The talent was covered in wounds. "I was hospitalized in England for four days to undergo surgery to clean my knee, which had been badly damaged. I had thirty-six stitches in total: about ten in the ankle, about fifteen in the hip and about ten in the knee. My left side was badly broken. I also spent four days in hospital in Belgium," says Magnier, who expects to return to the peloton next year at full strength, but with calm expectations.