Max Walscheid in intensive care after being hit by car, was "lucky to survive"

A car driver has hit Max Walscheid whilst he was on a training ride yesterday near his home. The Cofidis rider is stable but has sustained several injuries that have dictated the end of his classics campaign.

According to a press release by his team Cofidis earlier in the afternoon, the German native was hit by a car during a training ride near his home in Franken, Germany. He suffered numerous bruises and is currently in intensive care after being airlifted to a nearby hospital. Walscheid has no lost consciousness, however this accident will put him out of the peloton for undefined time and will see him miss the cobbled classics which he has been preparing towards

Walscheid himself has described the collision in detail, as an irresponsible driver took him to the ground: “The first thing that comes to my mind is that I was incredibly lucky to survive this accident. Even if we haven't done all the X-rays yet, I obviously don't have any broken bones. I was just doing classic training after Brugge-De Panne. I was on a calm road, in perfect conditions. Fortunately, I was not moving very quickly, on the side of the road. A car came from the opposite direction. She turned suddenly to the right, without blinking, rushed at me and hit me. I didn't even have time to do anything or be scared before the accident happened," he said.

So I got hit in the face. I jumped over the car and fell a few meters away, luckily in the ditch and not on the asphalt. My bike was completely destroyed, 10 meters away... People quickly came to help me, the ambulance and the police too. I was then transported to the hospital and admitted to the emergency services where they made a scan of my whole body. Even though they didn't find anything broken, I had to spend the night under observation. We will continue the tests and examinations this Friday, in particular for my head and to check my breathing and my electrocardiogram," he added.

He went on to be thankful that the accident didn't lead to more serious consequences: "I still can't believe I got through this without much deeper wounds. It's just beyond comprehension... But today, I prefer above all to rejoice that I am still alive."

The German will now set his focus on the recovery that lies ahead before putting on any sort of goal within the peloton.