Brandt in Coma

Yesterday, at the one-day Belgian Coupe Sels race, Davitamon- Lotto's Christophe Brandt ran full on into a road sign at 50kph. The crash left Brandt with a severed renal artery, five broken ribs, a punctured lung, a badly damaged spleen and a broken arm. The severed renal artery required removal of one of Brandt's kidneys. Christophe has been placed into a medical coma for a few days and, at this point, he appears out of the woods in terms of the originally life-threatening nature of his injuries. Best wishes to Christophe, his family and the other riders who went down, including Robert Slippens who was also injured quite badly (ten broken ribs, punctured lung and multiple collorbone fractures).