Amy Pieters to be flown back to Netherlands today but remains in coma

Amy Pieters is due to be flown back to the Netherlands today but remains in a coma following a crash while training with the Dutch national track cycling team in Spain before Christmas.

> World Madison champion Amy Pieters in induced coma after training camp crash

The 30 year old’s SD Worx team said that Pieters will be transported by a specialist Eurocross team to a hospital in the Netherlands where her treatment will continue.

Pieters was placed in an induced coma after sustaining head injuries in the crash on 23 December while on a training ride on the road.

She has been receiving treatment at a hospital in Alicante, including undergoing an operation to relieve the pressure on her brain.

Her team said that she “is now breathing independently and the sedation has been reduced. Her situation is stable but unchanged. Only when the rider wakes up can the medics get a first impression of the consequences of the fall.”

Pieters has won the rainbow jersey in the Madison at the past three UCI Track Cycling World Championships, partnered each team by fellow Dutch rider Kirsten Wild.

She was also European road champion in 2019, and that year also formed part of the Dutch team that won the mixed relay at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Yorkshire.