Danish mountain bike and cyclocross star Simon Andreassen had a scary experience on Tuesday, waking up in hospital with nasty injuries and having no memory of a crash or how he got to hospital.
The 20-year-old rider, who won the junior cyclocross World Championship in 2015 and the junior cross-country mountain bike World Championship in 2014 and 2015, was training in South Africa when he apparently crashed on a trail.
Thankfully not riding alone, Andreassen was taken to hospital, where he regained consciousness and was diagnosed with a fractured collarbone and concussion.
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Writing on Instagram, Andreassen thank fans and riders for their support after his crash, and also described himself as "really lucky" to escape with relatively minor injuries.
"First of all, thanks so much for all the kind messages, I really appreciate it! Today did not go as planned. Suddenly I woke up in the hospital, in a lot of pain. No idea how I got there what so ever," Andreassen wrote.
"It’s a strange feeling to be unconscious for so long, and get total memory loss. Went through the X-rays, and a fractured cheekbone, a big concussion, and being bruised up everywhere is taken as being really lucky in this situation.
"I wanna thank everyone who took care of me today, and helped me through this. You guys saved me big time. Never ride trails alone, and always use a helmet, it saved my life today."
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Andreassen is not the first mountain bike star to be involved in a nasty crash this year, with multiple mountain bike and BMX world champion Caroline Buchanan being involved in a car crash at the start of the year.
Buchanan suffered a broken sternum, broken nose, and a collapsed lung in the crash, but is expected to return to riding in the next couple of months.
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