Fatal “Tour de Femmes”
Sweet milk is seriously injured in a mass fall
07/26/2022 11:53 am
Vertebral fractures at Laura Sweet Milk, craniocerebral trauma at Marta Cavalli: A whole series of fatal falls overshadowed the women’s Tour de France. For the sports soldier Sweet Milk it is the bitter end of a completely screwed up tour.
Laura üßmilch lay crooked on the curb, almost motionless, on the second stage, the German railway world champion was hit hard in the final phase. As a result of a chain reaction, the 25-year-old crashed onto the asphalt and was seriously injured, the “Tour de France Femmes” is over early for sweet milk. “She broke two vertebrae and has to wear a neck brace for the time being,” said her Belgian team Plantur-Pura via Twitter after examinations in the hospital. The fractures are stable, and Sweet Milk hopes to “be able to return to Germany soon”.
For the sports soldier it is the bitter end of a completely screwed up tour. First her luggage was lost between Munich and Paris, then she fell at the start in the Seine metropolis, suffered abrasions and had a headache. “Tomorrow is a new day,” wrote the cyclist from Weingarten on Instagram, emphasizing the great atmosphere in her tour diary (“the mood was super awesome”). Little did she know it would get worse.
Sweet milk was involved in a mass crash 20 kilometers from the destination of Provins. One opponent had lost control, and a good ten starters fell to the ground as a result. It was particularly bad at their tour premiere sweet milk, which had won the track four in the previous year in addition to the World Cup and the European Championship title. But she wasn’t the only one for whom the day in the hospital bed and the tour ended abruptly. Italy’s Marta Cavalli was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, and the co-favourite, after a fall through no fault of her own – the Australian Nicole Frain had cleared her at high speed – initially continued driving before her team intervened.
“She was in shock,” said Stephen Delcourt, manager of Cavalli’s FDJ-Suez racing team. The Giro second had to be prevented from driving the last 25 kilometers to the finish. “We don’t want to play with the lives of our drivers,” said Delcourt. In the “spectacular fall” one experienced again how dangerous cycling is. “It’s really difficult to see pictures like that,” said Delcourt, “I’m very worried about the safety of our drivers.”