Annemiek van Vleuten has shared a smiling selfie on Twitter and again expressed disappointment at the crash which ended her chances of Olympic road race gold on Sunday.
Thanks for all the messages. Hard to deal with my disappointment but also proud about our performance #teamNL pic.twitter.com/9uRaRniFV6
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) August 9, 2016
The UCI, cycling’s world governing body, was forced to defend the nature of the route after Dutch rider Van Vleuten was admitted to intensive care following a crash on the concluding descent of the women’s race. She had been leading at the time.
The 33-year-old, who suffered three fractures in her lower back and concussion, posted a picture of herself smiling, showing a bruised and cut face featuring one small dressing after the horrific crash.
But it was missing out on glory that was her main frustration.
Van Vleuten wrote on Twitter: “Thanks for all the messages. Hard to deal with my disappointment but also proud about our performance.”
She led 10 kilometres from the end of the 137km race before tumbling to the asphalt as her compatriot Anna van der Breggen went on to win at Copacabana beach.
And Twitter was full of messages showing support for the Dutch cyclist:
@AvVleuten Great to see you up and smiling. That smash was terrible!
— PJ Gallagher (@pjgallagher) August 9, 2016
@AvVleuten So glad you're okay, looking forward to seeing you in the 2020 games!
— Alex âï¸ (@AvGeekAlex) August 9, 2016
@AvVleuten Ouch! But so good to see you sitting up and OK. Plenty to be very proud of in your performance too, that was some ride! #class
— Dave White (@DaveWhite99) August 9, 2016
@AvVleuten you did your country proud and you are a great ambassador for women's sport. I hope you recover soon.
— Annette Walker (@TinkWalker) August 9, 2016
