Cyclist Shares Gnarly Photo Of His Fractured Knee Cap After Scary Tour de France Crash

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Yesterday, we brought you the news of Belgium rider Philippe Gilbert flipping over his bike and over a stone wall while descending France’s treacherous Portet d’Aspet, the same descent Italian cyclist Fabio Carsartelli crashed and died during the 1995 Tour de France.

After being attended to by Tour doctors and Quick-Step officials, Gilbert somehow climbed back on his bike with his left elbow and knee bloodied and rode the final 57.2 kilometers (35.5 miles) of stage 16. Check out the gnarly fall below:

After finishing the stage, Gilbert was brought to the hospital, where doctors informed him he suffered a fracture to his patella, forcing him to withdraw from the Tour de France.

The 36-year-old shared a photo of his plump left knee to his 228,000 Twitter followers and it does not look pleasant.

These dudes don’t get enough credit for being tough as nails. Riding 2,082 miles uphill on a bike over two weeks is something that, try as I may, would never be able to accomplish. And these guys do it at 30 mph speeds while assuming all the risk of crashing that comes with it. If you still aren’t convinced these cyclists are cut from a different cloth, take a look what a pair of legs look like after 16 stages of the Tour de France.

I rest my case.

[h/t For the Win]

Matt Keohan Avatar
Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.