– These were stupid things, reports last year’s Norwegian champion to TV 2 from the hospital bed.
The UAE Team Emirates rider overturned on the wet and slippery asphalt during the National Championships in Kristiansand on Sunday, slipped out of the way and hit a pole with great force.
When he was examined in the doctor’s tent at the target area, he was dizzy and in great pain. He was therefore sent to hospital by ambulance.
Six fractures in the back
There he received disappointing news during the evening after undergoing X-ray examinations.
– TO HOSPITAL: Svein Erik Bystrøm had to be transported away in an ambulance after the ugly rollover. Photo: TV 2
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– I have had a fracture of six crossbars in my back. It’s not exactly optimal. However, the fractures heal on their own, and the doctors say that it will take 5-6 weeks to recover, says the brave 29-year-old.
In that case, it will mean that the Olympics will end for Bystrøm. On Tuesday, he was taken out of the squad for the joint start in Tokyo together with Tobias Foss, Markus Hoelgaard and Andreas Leknessund.
– It is a bit too early to say anything about the Olympics yet. It is quite possible that I will return faster than what the doctors here say. We will get a new status tomorrow and later in the week, he warns.
Double dose of bad luck
This came very inconvenient for the UAE Team Emirates rider, who has had a brilliant season. Among other things, this has meant that the rider, who is on an outgoing contract, is wanted by Team Ineos.
– It was fortunately on the side of the back and not in the middle. Back injuries are some shit, but we can hope it gets better soon, he says – who shared fate with Alexander Kristoff during the National Championships.
The teammate also overturned and had to go home with an injury.
PS! The transverse tag is, according to Store norske leksikon, a protruding leg tag on each side of one vertebrae, which forms attachment for parts of the back muscles and bind.
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