Published on : 03/25/2022
The German rider was hit by a car while training on Thursday. Despite the violent impact he did not lose consciousness and does not suffer any serious injury. Max will remain under observation on Friday and will not participate in the next races.
The German rider was hit by a car while training late Thursday afternoon near his home in Franken, Germany. He was not knocked unconscious but suffered from numerous bruises. He was taken by helicopter to the emergency ward of the "Marie Klinikum St. Elisabeth" hospital in Neuwied and remains in intensive care on Friday, being monitored by the Cofidis medical staff. The 28-year-old rider will therefore be out of the race for the next few races. The 28 year-old rider arrived at Cofidis in the off-season and won the GP de Denain and finished 2nd in the Danilith Nokere Koerse in the last weeks.
TESTIMONIAL
"I PREFER TO BE HAPPY TO BE ALIVE".
"The first thing I think about is that I was incredibly lucky to survive this accident. Even though we haven't done all the X-rays yet, I obviously don't have any broken bones. I was just doing a classic training ride after Bruges-De Panne. I was on a quiet road, in perfect conditions. Fortunately I wasn't going very fast, on the side of the road. A car came from the opposite direction. It turned suddenly to the right, without signalling, ran into me and hit me. I didn't even have time to do anything or be scared before the accident happened.
So I was hit from the front. I jumped over the car and landed a few metres away, luckily in the ditch and not on the asphalt. My bike was completely destroyed, 10 metres away... People came quickly to help me, the ambulance and the police too. I was then taken to hospital and admitted to the emergency room where they did a full body scan. Although they didn't find anything broken, I had to stay overnight for observation. We will continue the tests and examinations this Friday, including my head, breathing and my electrocardiogram.
I still can't believe I got through it without having much deeper injuries. It just boggles the mind. At the same time, it's very hard because I was particularly comfortable in the race, I had good results and the potential to do more. But today I'd rather be happy that I'm still alive."
