Brothers Dan (left) and Gee (right) tend to a clearly shocked Rachel Atherton on the roadside.

The car/truck

(Photos: Sven Martin).

Really bad news here for Rachel Atherton, and by the look of the photo a pretty scary experience too. Here’s what photographer Sven Martin had to tell us, “Rach hit a car at the beginning of a time trial, head down sprinting. She saw it last minute and they both swerved the wrong way. She is lucky to be alive honestly. She goes for MRI tomorrow”. Like we say, scary stuff. Here’s the brief Press Release below issued by her Team Manager. More news as we get it. And of course, all of our best wishes for a speedy recovery go out to her:

“Current World Champion Rachel Atherton sustained a dislocated shoulder yesterday when she was involved in a training accident with a car. The Atherton trio have been training hard in Santa Cruz California since the start of January and yesterday was no exception. Details are sketchy but it seems Rachel hit the car head on with her brand new Cervelo road bike taking the brunt of the damage. Rach has an appointment with the specialist today and hopes to be up and ready for the first round of the World Cup in April.”

rachel atherton car crash world champion mountain bike