Fraile injured in car crash

Image 1 of 5

The Astana team have revealed that Omar Fraile was injured in a car crash while driving home from a criterium in Madrid, Spain on Sunday.

Fraile and his girlfriend both sustained non-life threatening injuries. Fraile suffered a fractured rib and back pain, while his partner has to undergo surgery for six fractured ribs and a broken vertebra.

Fraile won the Memorial Maria Isabel Clavero in Las Rozas northwest of Madrid, taking the top step on the podium, with Gonzalo Serrano (Caja Rural) and David Lopez (Team Sky) second and third.

The Astana team revealed that Fraile had been injured in a brief twitter post, writing: "Omar Fraile and his girlfriend were involved in a car accident on Sunday, driving back from a criterium in Madrid. They both have non-life threatening injuries, with Omar having back pains and a fissured rib. His girlfriend will have surgery due to six broken ribs and a broken vertebra. We wish them both a speedy recovery from this shocking accident!”

It is unclear how the accident will affect Fraile’s pre-season training and 2019 racing.

Fraile, 28, won the Tour de France stage in Mende this season. He joined Astana for 2018 after riding for Dimension Data. He won a stage of the 2017 Giro d’Italia and the mountains competition at the 2015 Vuelta a Espana.

That aggressive breakthrough performance attracted the interest of a number of teams with the Basque rider eventually opting to leave Caja Rural for Dimension Data. He backed up his mountains classification win with another the following season. He also took victory in the mountains classification at the Vuelta a Burgos in 2016 and finished second at the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire.

In 2018, Fraile won a stage on home roads at the Itzulia Basque Country and at Tour de Romandie before riding the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. he was part of the break on the stage to Mende and then perfectly timed his ride on the 'Montée Laurent Jalabert' that leads to the finish, passing Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) in the final kilometres and holding off a chase from Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors).