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Fernando Alonso to race with metal plates in jaw after cycling incident

He suffered a fractured jaw after he was knocked down by a car turning into a supermarket

Racing driver Fernando Alonso has said he will need two titanium plates in his jaw for the duration of the season after breaking it in a cycling incident last month.

The former world champion drove a Formula 1 car today for the first time since the incident.

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, he said "I don't expect any issues, honestly. 

"One thing is the professional and driving side, which is 100%.

"On the personal, I will have to remove two titanium plates in the upper jaw at the end of the season."

The 39-year-old, who is returning to F1 with the Alpine team this season after two years away, said he had been forced to rest for 'nine or 10 days' after breaking his upper jaw in a collision with a car in Lugano, Switzerland, but had been training 'absolutely normally' for the past two weeks.

As road.cc previously reported, Alonso was hit near Lugano, which lies between Lake Maggiore and Lake Como in Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Canton Ticino, just across the border with Italy.

He was reportedly knocked off his bike by a motorist turning into a supermarket car park.

Alonso is a keen cyclist, to the extent that in 2013 he attempted to buy the licence of the former Euskaltel-Euskadi team in a bid to launch a new team at the following year’s Tour de France.

The Spaniard has won 32 grands prix and is regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers in history.

 

 

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10 comments

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0-0 | 3 years ago
2 likes

RIP Murray Walker - Legend 😢

Avatar
wtjs replied to 0-0 | 3 years ago
0 likes

RIP Murray Walker

People can, of course, write about anything on this road cycling site but this adulation of motorised transport seems to be getting out of hand. What next? Discussions about the latest BMWs, Top Gear fanbots?

Avatar
ktache replied to wtjs | 3 years ago
2 likes

Murray Walker was the voice of Formula 1 for decades, I for one am sorry for his passing.

This is an article about a former world champion in that very sport who was injured while cycling by a motorist.  He will be back racing with Ti (THE cyclists metal of choice) in his upper jaw.  I think it is a fair enough forum to mention the passing of dear Murray.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to 0-0 | 3 years ago
1 like

I'm sorry I haven't a clue : in the style of Murray Walker.
And there's no way Lord Cardigan can fall off his horse.
Lord cardigan had just fallen off his horse !

Avatar
wtjs | 3 years ago
0 likes

This reminds me that professional cyclists are hard men. I knew when I saw how the (Dutch?) TdF rider carried on after being thrown onto the barbed wire fence by a team car, that most of us were never up to this job! That's quite apart from us being several orders of magnitude below the required fitness level. The relevance is that Alonso suffered the sort of offence we're all in line for.

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RoubaixCube replied to wtjs | 3 years ago
0 likes

Reminds me of a motoGP race some years ago where a guy still took part in the race with two broken ankles... I think it was Jorge Lorenzo though it could have been someone else.

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Rick_Rude replied to RoubaixCube | 3 years ago
1 like

Lorenzo busted his collarbone at Assen, got surgery and turned up to race and finished 5th. Then highsided and bent the plate at Sachsenring the next weekend. Lorenzo has had quite a few nasty ones. A few early ones when he first moved to GP and then a nasty run starting when his Ducati seized on him and the career ending broken back that made him decide to retire (still rode for bit after it was sort of mended though). Hard indeed. 

Anyway RIP Murray Walker. The voice of motorsport. 

If you don't like motorsport - TOUGH. Most of them are cyclists and pretty good ones at that. 

Avatar
wtjs replied to Rick_Rude | 3 years ago
0 likes

If you don't like motorsport - TOUGH

If you don't like people with negative views about motorsport, positive views about climate science- EVEN TOUGHER

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RoubaixCube | 3 years ago
0 likes

metal plates?? I surprised he didnt select the Carbon Fiber option, Would have saved him a few grams.

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Reiver2768 replied to RoubaixCube | 3 years ago
3 likes

They are probably titanium, so that is the next best thing.

 

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