Dylan Groenewegen regrets his move that led to Fabio Jakobsen's horrific crash in Tour de Pologne - Stage 1.
Fabio Jakobsen suffered severe enough injuries to require being placed in a medically induced coma but has since come out of the coma on Friday. He now faces a long and difficult recovery period from multiple face fractures and a damaged trachea.
Jakobsen had to endure 5 hours of reconstructive surgery on Thursday after a clash with Groenewegen on Wednesday during the sprint to the line that saw him come to an instant stop whilst the descent sprint at high speed lead to what seems like a perfect storm of errors.
Groenwegen was in front of Jakobsen and moved from left to right during the sprint and appeared to use elbows too and whilst unintentional it ultimately lead to Jakobsen smashing into the barriers amongst others crashing.
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Groenwegen apologized for what happened during an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS.
'This was clearly my fault'
Groenewegen said, "Let's be clear that it is never my intention to endanger other riders," he said in a trembling voice. "But this was clearly my fault. I deviated from my line and that is not allowed."
Also injured from the aftermath and barriers giving way Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ), Eduard Prades (Movistar), and Damien Touzé (Cofidis), all suffered injuries that ended their Tour of Poland.
Groenewegen himself fractured his collarbone, but in the aftermath, he barely noticed any injuries.
The team issued a statement on Friday, saying, "Team Jumbo-Visma stands for fair sportsmanship, within the rules. With his move, Dylan broke a sports rule and that’s unacceptable. We have decided that Dylan will not start in a race until the judgment of the disciplinary committee to which the UCI has handed over the incident. For now, the health and recovery of Fabio prevail. Our thoughts go out to Fabio Jakobsen and the other people involved in the terrible crash in the Tour of Poland.
