Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten crashes in Rio (Video)
By Josh Hill
![USA's Mara Abbott (L) leads Netherlands' Annemiek Van Vleuten during the Women's road cycling race at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 7, 2016. / AFP / POOL / ERIC GAILLARD (Photo credit should read ERIC GAILLARD/AFP/Getty Images) USA's Mara Abbott (L) leads Netherlands' Annemiek Van Vleuten during the Women's road cycling race at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 7, 2016. / AFP / POOL / ERIC GAILLARD (Photo credit should read ERIC GAILLARD/AFP/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/45c836c54c2972e1b00e671c426e7cf4fff4c54157732f6d966662775f956db0.jpg)
Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten was involved in a nasty crash on Sunday ni the Women’s Road Cycling Final.
Next: 50 greatest Summer Olympians in history.
The Rio Olympics are into their second day of action, and already the injuries are starting to pile up. We saw both a French gymnast and then a German gymnast suffer brutal injuries while competing.
Sunday brought perhaps the scariest injury of the Games so far.
Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten flipped her bike and crashed during the final stretch of the Women’s Road Cycling. It wasn’t a gory crash or disgusting to watch like the broken leg of that French gymnast, but it was almost worse since we weren’t sure if she was dead or not — that’s not hyperbole either.
must read: Best SNL Cast Member from Each State
NBC doesn’t want videos of the Olympics going out on anything other than NBC affiliated accounts and sites, but you can still see the crash here, here and also here.
From all angles, it’s a nasty crash and it was horrifying to watch and live in the aftermath. The announcers coldly glossed over the crash completely and didn’t give any updates on her status.
Afterwords we got word from a Dutch outlet that van Vleuten was conscious and being transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. Thankfully she seems to be alright, but that doesn’t change how scary the crash was or how gross it was that the crash was pretty much glossed over in the name of reporting on a race no one really cared about at that point.