Warsaw (AFP)

Serious but stable condition: Dutch cycling champion Fabio Jakobsen, the main victim of a terrible fall at the finish of the Tour of Poland on Wednesday in Katowice (south), underwent five-hour head surgery overnight , said Thursday morning the doctors of the hospital where the runner is treated.

Jakobsen, who is 23, is still in an induced coma.

"A CT scan was done and the brain does not appear to have been damaged," Pawel Gruenpeter, deputy director of Sosnowiec hospital, told Polish media. "Today we will try to get him out of a coma."

"The main injuries are on the face. Fortunately, the eyes were not affected. His condition is serious but stable," said the deputy director of the hospital.

Jakobsen crashed heavily shortly before the finish line of the first leg of the Tour of Poland on Wednesday. The Dutchman was crushed by his compatriot Dylan Groenewegen in a sprint at full speed, on a downward false flat, and was thrown over the barriers.

While doctors feared for her life, they finally managed to stabilize her condition late Wednesday evening.

- "A silly downhill sprint" -

On Thursday morning, race organizer Czeslaw Lang said he was "somewhat relieved" after speaking to medics.

"After seeing the accident, we feared the worst, but now we know the situation is serious but stabilized," he added.

Mr. Lang also gave news, also reassuring, of the race marshal hit hard by Jakobsen: "He has regained consciousness and his condition is stable."

If Groenewegen is generally designated as the first person responsible for the accident - he was disqualified and the disciplinary commission of the International Cycling Union (UCI) must be seized of his case -, the organizer of the race was also pointed out. finger for the choice of a descending false-flat finish, as well as for the type of barriers used.

"Every year, the same idiotic downhill sprint at the Tour of Poland", reacted in particular the German Simon Geschke. "Every year I wonder why the organization thinks this is a good idea. Massive sprints are quite dangerous, you don't need a descent at 80 km / h!"

Jakobsen's fall came a year to the day after the death of Belgian hopeful Bjorg Lambrecht (22), who died after falling and hitting a concrete structure on the same Tour of Poland.

The massive fall sent several other runners to hospital on Wednesday. Among them, two French, Marc Sarreau, who suffers from a major trauma to a shoulder and multiple ligament ruptures, according to his Groupama-FDJ team, and Damien Touzé (Cofidis), operated on for a triple fracture to an index finger.

Spaniard Eduard Prades, for his part, was hospitalized with a fractured vertebra (C6), after being struck by barriers that flew on the road. His Movistar team announced his repatriation during the day to Pamplona (Spain).

The second stage of the Tour of Poland is scheduled for Thursday between Opole and Zabrze (151 km).

© 2020 AFP