"What happened to Filippo raises a few questions" - UAE doctor reveals haunting details of Filippo Baroncini's crash
Cycling
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."
Help from INEOS
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."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 5visitors 5
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment