Two Christina Watches riders hit by cars in training

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The season has taken a bad turn for Christina Watches-Onfone, as two riders have been hit by cars in training in the last few days.  Martin Pedersen has already had surgery following his crash in Italy, but Frederick Wilmann's injuries appear to be less serious.

Pedersen was training in Italy with fellow Danes Brian Vandborg (also with Christina Watches)  and Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank) when he was hit by a car at a roundabout.  At first it was feared that he had broken his hip, but it turned out to be a lesser fracture.

“The status is that it is a broken bone up around the hip and femur. Basically we can say that it is a pretty clean break, so it's definitely not something that keeps him out the rest of the season in any way," sport director Michael Blaudzun told sporten.tv2.dk.

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Pedersen has already undergone surgery and is expected to be returned to Denmark soon for further recuperation.

Wilmann was training near Trondheim, Norway, when he was hit by the trailer being towed by a car going too fast.  “A car came up at between 60 and 70 km  per hour. We realized that it had too high speed, and one to two seconds later we saw that it had a trailer. The trailer swerved out from behind the car and took all of our lane. It hit me right in the thigh,” he told procycling.no.

Miraculously, he was not seriously injured.  “Thankfully nothing is broken. But I am really bruised and stitched in several places.” He is still in hospital for observation. 

“I am truly appalled that today I have to announce that another one of my riders has been run down,” said team owner Christina Hembo in a statement. “Frederick Wilmann is one of the team's absolute profiles and recently in Argentina rode a fantastic race.”

“It is still a big loss for the team and without Wilmann and Pedersen on the bike again soon, it looks serious. The main concern is Frederiks health and I am very sorry on Frederick's behalf and sincerely hope that he recovers from road traffic accident as soon as possible.”