Italian cyclist impaled by 20 inch wood splinter during race (NSFW)

quote:

---

On Friday, Italian cyclist Lorenzo Gobbo, 17, crashed at the the Junior and U23 European Track Championships at the Eddy Merckx Velodrome in Ghent, Belgium, and was pierced by a large wooden splinter during a scratch race, as the BBC reported.

The freak accident occurred as a result of a rider’s pedal striking the track during the crash, causing the massive piece of wood to break off. The splinter entered the left side of Gobbo’s back, piercing through his lung, and coming out the other side of his abdomen and into his thigh, according to the report.

Calling it a “splinter,” though, doesn’t quite do it justice—the piece of wood was half a meter long, or roughly 20 inches, and it looked more like the rider had just lost a jousting match.

Gobbo was rushed to Jan Palfijn hospital, where he spent three hours in surgery to extract the wood.

On Tuesday, doctors needed to drain Gobbo’s lung. And as of yesterday, according to Tuttobiciweb, Gobbo remains in the hospital. However, he appears to be on the mend—the outlet reported that doctors expect him to make a full recovery. Gobbo said it has been easier for him to breathe, and he even managed to get out of bed and walk a bit on his own.

---