Road race champion Imogen Cotter ‘lucky to be alive’ after being struck by car

National road race champion Imogen Cotter has said she considers herself lucky to be alive after being involved in a serious collision while conducting pre-season training in Girona, Spain.

The Clarewoman has been based in the Catalan city in recent weeks and was training hard in advance of the new racing season. Cotter was hospitalised on Wednesday and had to undergo surgery as a result of an incident earlier that day.

“Yesterday while out riding, I was hit by a car,” the 28 year old stated via social media on Thursday. “The car was overtaking a cyclist on the other side of the road and drove head-on straight into me at high speed.

“I feel so lucky to be alive. I was taken by ambulance to hospital, where it appears I fractured my patella and broke my radius, as well as needing quite a few stitches. I had surgery late last night. I’m just so grateful to still be here to write this. It could have been so much worse.”

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It is unclear how long her arm and knee fractures will sideline her from training, and also what delays these injuries might impose on her racing debut with the Plantur Pura team. She signed a contract with the UCI-registered squad last autumn, weeks after winning the national road race championships.

Cotter had been selected to represent Ireland in next month’s UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, an online contest which will be held on the Zwift platform on February 26th. Given her injuries and the short time period before the race, her participation looks unlikely.

Former World Tour professional Nicolas Roche, national eRacing champion Chris McGlinchey and Richard Barry are due to contest the men’s race, while Cotter and women’s national eRacing champion Mary Corless were scheduled to ride the women’s event. The team was announced on Monday.