Dutch cyclist fighting for his life after sickening Tour of Poland crash

Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen was in a coma, fighting for his life on Wednesday after he was thrown into and over a barrier at 80km/h.

Bikes and riders fly through the air in the sickening Tour of Poland crash

Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen was in a coma, fighting for his life on Wednesday after he was thrown into and over a barrier at 80km/h in a sickening conclusion to the opening stage of the Tour of Poland.

Footage showed 23-year-old Jakobsen, of the Deceuninck-Quick Step team, racing elbow-to-elbow with fellow Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen of Jumbo-Visma as both men frantically tussled in a tight sprint to the line in Katowice.

However, Jakobsen came off worst, somersaulting over the barriers before colliding with a photographer after Groenewegen had veered suddenly to the right, squeezing his rival into the security wall.

Governing body the UCI said they strongly condemned the “dangerous behaviour” of Groenewegen.

Deceuninck-Quick Step team boss Patrick Lefevere described Groenewegen’s move as a “criminal act”.

Jakobsen was in a serious but stable condition, doctors said on Thursday night (AEST), a day after the horrifying crash.

Jakobsen underwent a five-hour operation to the head during the night and is still in a medically-induced coma in intensive care.

“Today we will try and wake him from the coma,” Pawel Gruenpeter, deputy head of the Sosnowiec hospital where Jakobsen is being treated, told Polish media.

“A scan has been carried out and the brain does not appear to have been affected … The main injuries are to the face. Fortunately the eyes have not been affected. The condition is serious but stable,” Gruenpeter said.

Organiser Czeslaw Lang said in a statement that he was “somewhat relieved” after speaking to doctors.

“After seeing the crash, we feared the worst, but now we know that the situation is serious but stabilised,” Lang said.

Lang said that the race official also injured in the accident had “regained consciousness and is now in a stable condition”.

The incident comes a year to the day after the death of 22-year-old Belgian sprinter Bjorg Lambrecht, who died after falling and hitting a concrete structure on the 2019 Tour of Poland.

Groenewegen went on to win the stage but was later disqualified with the stricken Jakobsen declared the winner.

The UCI said it “strongly condemns the dangerous behaviour of Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), who sent Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep) into the barriers a few metres from the finish, causing a collective crash at the end of the first stage of the Tour of Poland.

A statement added: “Groenewegen was disqualified from the race by the commissaires’ panel.

“The UCI, which considers the behaviour unacceptable, immediately referred the matter to the disciplinary commission to request the imposition of sanctions commensurate with the seriousness of the facts.”