Rome (AFP)

"Courage Alex!" The emotion was very strong Saturday in Italy in the aftermath of the serious accident which was victim Alex Zanardi, former Formula 1 driver who became one of the great figures of disabled sports after being amputated of both legs in 2001.

Extremely respected and popular in Italy, Zanardi was on the front page of the country's three sports newspapers on Saturday morning, even though the football championship is due to resume in the evening after more than three months of interruption.

"Alex's drama", headlines the Gazzetta dello Sport in full screen. "No Alex, no!" Writes Corriere dello Sport, while Tuttosport headlines "Alex, Italy!"

Zanardi, 53, was very badly hit in the head in an accident Friday with his hand-held bicycle while racing in Tuscany.

According to Mario Valentini, coach of the Italian disabled sport cycling team, he lost control of his bike and made "two rolls" before hitting a truck that was coming in the other direction.

On Saturday morning, the Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital in Siena, where the Italian champion was admitted to intensive care and then operated for almost three hours on Friday, published a medical bulletin speaking of "stable parameters".

According to the hospital, Zanardi "is intubated and on artificial respiration" and his "neurological picture remains serious".

Giuseppe Oliveri, the neurosurgeon who operated on him, also spoke of a "serious condition". "He arrived at our house with a significant crano-facial trauma. Concretely, all the bones of the face are fractured. He also has fractures on both sides of the frontal bone," he explained.

- "Do not give up" -

"At the moment, we are not talking about his neurological state. This is something that we will see later, when he wakes up and if he wakes up," he added, adding that the champion was in artificial coma.

"The patient's situation is serious, that is to say that he can also die. In such cases, the improvements are slow, while the worsening can be brutal," said the doctor.

Numerous sportspeople, artists and politicians have sent messages of support to the man who had his legs amputated in 2001 after a terrible accident during an IndyCar championship car race on the German circuit of the Lausitzring.

"Courage Alex, don't give up. All of Italy is fighting with you," wrote head of government Giuseppe Conte.

"Fight as you know how to do it, Alex. You are a very big man, courage," said Charles Leclerc, the Monegasque driver of the F1 Ferrari team, in Italian.

"Courage Alex. Fuck, now you have to give it your all," wrote swimmer Federica Pellegrini, one of the biggest stars in Italian sport.

Far-right leader and former government strongman Matteo Salvini, ex-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, former footballer Alessandro Del Piero and Nazionale coach Roberto Mancini also posted messages of encouragement to Zanardi.

A true standard-bearer of disabled sports worldwide, Zanardi obtained after his accident in 2001 four gold medals and two silver medals at the Paralympic Games in 2012 and 2016, added to ten world titles, all conquered on a bicycle at hand.

© 2020 AFP