• Home
• /
• Sports
• /
• Local Sports

Tom Boonen loses consciousness temporarily, out of tour

Yas Island - A six-bike pile-up at 70km of the 129km The Capital Stage, saw former world champion Etixx-Quick Step team's Tom Boonen, one of the favourites of the Tour, and MTN-Qhubeka's Theo Bos crash out of the Tour.

 After what was an incident free first Stage of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour from Qasr Al Sarab to Madinat Zayed, the first edition of the Tour saw two crashes in the second Stage on Friday.
A six-bike pile-up at 70km of the 129km The Capital Stage, saw former world champion Etixx-Quick Step team's Tom Boonen, one of the favourites of the Tour, and MTN-Qhubeka's Theo Bos crash out of the Tour.
According to the race doctors, classics champion Boonen sustained a traumatic brain injury with a few seconds' loss of consciousness. He also suffered a suspected shoulder injury.
Belgian Boonen lay on the asphalt with his legs entangled in his bike for several minutes as race doctors rushed to him. He eventually sat up and was put on a stretcher before being taken away in an ambulance to the hospital.
Dutchman Bos sustained an injury with lacerations and bruising to his left forearm as well as multiple bruises and abrasions to his left shoulder. He too was rushed to hospital. Boonen, who turns 35 next week, had also injured his shoulder during the first stage of the Paris-Nice in March.
MTN-Qhubeka's Jim Songezo, the winner of the White Jersey in the first stage, was also involved in the crash but managed to get up on his feet and finished the stage. "Tom was behind me," Songezo said at the finish line.
"There was a lot of cross-wind going out and coming back, but nothing to cause any trouble. I was just behind him and I saw him hit something on the road. I'm ok just that my hand is not so good but I will check it later. I managed to finish the stage. So, it is ok. Tom looked really bad but I really couldn't see what happened. He was unconscious a little bit but I was also in pain so, I couldn't really see. I was off the bike and I was also in a little bit of pain. But after that, I got on my bike and carried on," he added.
Meanwhile, Boonen's teammate Stijn Vandenbergh just about managed to avoid the pile up.
It was not all bad news for Etixx-Quick Step team, though as they made up for Boonen's loss with Fabio Sabatini finishing third in the Stage classification.