Training ride accident sends six top cyclists to hospital in Spain

Six riders from the Giant professional cycling team were injured when they suffered a collision with a car when on a training ride close to the Spanish city of Alicante on Saturday.

The accident happened as the riders were going downhill and rounding a corner when they were hit by a car which was reportedly driving on the wrong side of the road.

Six riders were injured, and needed to be flown by helicopter to hospital in Valencia. Two of the riders suffered more serious injuries, with John Degenkolb, the winner of 10 stages of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) and last year's Milan San Reo and Paris-Roubaix races, receiving a serious hand injury which could see him losing a finger, while Chad Haga broke his hip.

The other riders, Warren Bargueli, Fredrik Ludvigsson, Ramon Sinkeldam and Mats Waischeid suffered a variety of injuries from fractures to cuts and bruises.

The team has yet to specify the exact injuries suffered by these riders, but in a statement to the press, Giant team doctor, Anko Boelins commented the team was "in shock."

"There are questions we have to manage, but we also understand that within what happened, we have had luck. All of the riders are conscious and stable," he concluded. Endit