Irish Champion Imogen Cotter is recovering in hospital from injuries sustained after being struck by the driver of a car while training in Spain on Wednesday. Cotter confirmed her injuries include fractures to her patella and radius, and required surgery.
"Yesterday while out riding, I was hit by a car. The car was overtaking a cyclist on the other side of the road and drove head-on straight into me at high speed," Cotter confirmed in a post in Instagram Thursday.
"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."
Cotter began racing three seasons ago and has competed on the Belgian racing circuit with Ciclotel for part of 2020 and in e-sports as part of Movistar’s e-racing team in 2021.
She was crowned Irish champion after winning the road race in Wicklow on October 10 last year and went on to sign a one-year contract with Belgium-based UCI Continental team Plantur-Pura in 2022, where she aims to capitalise on the opportunity and race full-time on the road for the first time in her career.
"My long-term goal is to go to the WorldTour but I entered cycling very late. I started road racing when I was 25, and I’m 28 now. I’m no spring chicken but I feel like I have a lot of room to progress because I’ve only been cycling for three years," Cotter told Cyclingnews in an interview at the Rouleur Live event in London last November.
Cotter wrote that she was relieved to be alive following the incident, and that she believed her injuries could have been much worse.
Cotter was selected to represent Ireland at the upcoming 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships on February 26. She has not confirmed a recovery timeframe with which to heal and it is unclear how this incident might affect her racing plans for the early-season in 2022.
