"What happened to Filippo raises a few questions" - UAE doctor reveals haunting details of Filippo Baroncini's crash

Filippo Baroncini suffered terrifying injuries in a crash at the Tour de Pologne. The Italian was placed in an induced coma for 14 days following the incident, during which period a series of surgeries were performed on Baroncini, with one taking up to 11 hours. But latest reports indicate that the 24-year-old is already awake and fully concious.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG manager Mauro Gianetti provided an update on his rider on Tutto Bici: "His face was disfigured, and you can't imagine what oral surgeon Gabriele Canzi and surgeon Davide Colistra did. They did something incredible in an operation that lasted more than eleven hours."

"Medical science has made incredible progress these days. Things are being done that were unthinkable a few years ago. I don't want to go into details, but I assure you: they did something extraordinary."

Baroncini went down with a large part of the peloton in third stage of the Polish WorldTour stage race. Among other victims of that crash were numbers 1 & 2 of general classification at that point; Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) with the latter abandoning the race due to a concussion.

UAE's Chief Operating Officer Andrea Agostini hopes the cycling world will learn from their rider's fall: "What happened to Filippo is unbelievable and raises a few questions. Before being taken to the hospital, Filippo remained conscious on the ground for more than forty minutes."

"It's unclear why he was loaded into an ambulance and then not taken to the nearest hospital as required. Filippo's face was disfigured, and with such a blow to the head, he couldn't have waited all that time."

Finally, Agostini appreciated the INEOS Grenadiers duo of Michal Kwiatkowski and Robert Kempers, who is a doctor for the British team. "Michal had also fallen and was being treated, but he was mainly concerned with telling the team doctor he was fine and wanted Filippo to be treated."

"He noticed the situation immediately. Doctor Kempers administered the first aid himself, and we can only be grateful to him. It confirms that the cycling world is one big family. The competition is fierce, but at the important moments, we are all there for each other."