2022 Unbound Gravel 200 champion Ivar Slik was taken to hospital on Tuesday in Fayetteville, Arkansas, after he crashed into a motor vehicle while on a training ride in nearby Bentonville.
Fellow Dutch cyclists Thijs Zonneveld, Nikki Terpstra and Jasper Ockeloen were riding with Slik at the time. Zonneveld, in collaboration with Ockeloen and Terpstra, posted to Instagram on Wednesday that Slik “is doing well under the circumstances” after a diagnosis by doctors at Washington Regional Hospital confirmed “a severe concussion, a broken nose” as well as cuts and contusions.
“Yesterday, our friend Ivar Slik crashed into a car during a training ride around Bentonville, Arkansas. He lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a severe concussion, a broken nose, a laceration to the skull and a lot of bruises.
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“He is doing well now, considering the circumstances. The doctors are hopeful, he is awake, he talks and moves his whole body. The next days, he will be staying in the hospital in order for him to be monitored closely. We are very glad with the help he gets and has been given,” Zonneveld wrote on social in collaboration with his two friends.
In an update to Cyclingnews on Thursday afternoon, Zonneveld said, "He is stable and awake, but he is being monitored closely because of the head trauma."
Slik was with three fellow Dutch cyclists, Zonneveld, Nikki Terpstra and Jasper Ockeloen, as they were in northwest Arkansas preparing for Unbound Gravel, taking place in Emporia, Kansas on June 1.
The group of riders was part of a larger Dutch contingency who had recently competed at Gravel Locos in Texas on May 18, with Slik, Terpstra and Ockeloen finishing in the top five and Zonneveld 17th.
Slik was the first European-based rider to win the elite men’s 200-mile gravel race in Kansas, doing so two years ago from a four-rider sprint at the finish ahead of US riders Keegan Swenson and Ian Boswell followed by fellow Dutchman Laurens ten Dan in fourth.
Cyclingnews has reached out to representatives for Slik for an official update on his condition and is awaiting for a response. Dutch media outlets, including Wielerflits and NHSport, also reported the incident, but no further details were available.
