More details emerge from Tony Martin's accident

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Tony Martin was only three kilometres away from home at the end of his training ride when he was hit by a car earlier this week. The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider doesn't know exactly what happened, but he ended up in hospital with “the left half of my face totally smashed.”

He has so far been diagnosed with a fractured cheekbone, jaw and eye socket. “My left eye is bloodshot and swollen completely shut,” he wrote on his personal website. “My left arm hurts and a few ribs are involved, too.”

As is so often the case, he doesn't remember the crash itself, noting that he was unconscious “for about 15 minutes. All I know is that I was going about 35 to 40 km/h on a slightly descending bike path when probably a woman in a car crossed the path. Then the lights went out.”

He was taken to the local hospital, where he stayed overnight before being transferred to the University Clinic in Zürich. “Here are the necessary specialists, who can put me back together again.”

He would still rather be at home, though. “Actually I am doing quite well. My girlfriend is taking care of me here. My mother and brother have arrived from Frankfurt. I am being taken care of in the best way.”

Martin summed up by adding that he was only three kilometres away from home. “Actually I had the day as good as finished.  Bothersome, but it can happen any time and anywhere.”