"I thought about what life would be like without a kidney" - Oscar Rodríguez describes terrifying crash and 12 days at hospital following Giro d'Italia crash

Stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia was a chaotic day, one that seemed calm on paper but saw the entire podium of the Giro crash simultaneously, and moments after Oscar Rodríguez crashed out of the race dramatically as he hit a wall of a house. He reports on the two weeks of a very difficult health situation.

“We were working at the head of the group to resume the breakaway. I was not well, because I had just had a gastric virus, but I was still pulling. Shortly before there had been the crash of the Ineos, so there had been a slowdown and at that point we had to pick up speed," Rodríguez described in an interview with Diario de Navarra. "...Otto Vergaerde passed me too close, on the outside, I couldn't avoid it and with my front wheel I touched his rear."

The Spaniard was working for the ambitions of Fernando Gaviria at the time, when he hit the wheel of a Trek - Segafredo rider. Unfortunately for him it was in a very bad location, having hit a traffic sign and the wall of a house afterwards. This required medical assistance, the Movistar rider abandoned the race there right after Tao Geoghegan Hart.

"It was an easy corner, you could do it at 80 km/h without braking. At that moment all the spokes on my wheel broke and I was no longer able to control the bike. It would have been better to fall directly on the asphalt, but instead I stayed on the saddle. I saw that one getting closer and closer and I couldn't stop," he explained. "The road sign, however, I had not seen. But I couldn't stop: the front wheel was destroyed and the bike at that speed doesn't stop using only the rear brake".

Although he did not suffer meaningful bone injuries, he suffered a hit in a very sensitive location, bruising his kidney with the accident. “I remember screaming before crashing and then I was lying on the ground. I kept yelling for someone to come and help me. The collision with the pole was dry, then I also hit the wall of the nearby house."

"The car arrived and my sporting director, Xabier Muriel, immediately asked me if I thought I could continue… The ambulance took a little longer, as it was assisting the riders who had crashed shortly before. When she arrived, then, it took an hour to get to the hospital." The injuries were then diagnosed, and Rodríguez had to stay in the hospital for the entire duration of the Giro stages he could not compete in.

“They told me that we needed to see how the situation evolved and that there was a risk that they would have to remove it. Luckily things turned out for the best. I stayed in the hospital for 12 days, but I gradually felt better, so much so that I asked to be discharged a day earlier than expected," the 28-year old revealed.

“In those moments I thought about what life would be like without a kidney. The Movistar doctor had also begun to offer me the possibility of continuing to race. In any case, I was very lucky. If I had taken the hit just a few inches higher and had a punctured lung… We were going very fast.

"Now I want to go racing again: the team tell me to stay calm, I would like to compete already between August and September. I'm a professional, riding a bike is my job: moreover, I'm a positive person and I believe that things like this make you stronger," Rodríguez concluded.