ROME -- The cyclist Alice Toniolli, 19, is in hospital in a serious condition after a race crash which saw her collide with a wall at the side of the road in Ceneda, Treviso. Toniolli suffered polytrauma to the head but her injuries are not life threatening, Il Fatto Quotidiano has reported.

 Toniolli was competing as part of the Top Girls Fassa Bortolo cycling team in the women’s race on the Circuito dell’Assunta, a two-kilometre race circuit in Treviso. As seen in a widely shared video of the incident, Toniolli appeared to lose control of her bike at the back of the peloton and crashed against the wall, falling heavily on her head. The race was immediately stopped as emergency services attended to the 19-year-old cyclist, who was taken to the intensive therapy unit of Treviso’s Ca’ Foncello hospital.

 Giacomo Salvador, the head of CicloTuristica Vittorio Veneto, the group that organised the race, said Toniolli likely lost balance while taking her water bottle, clipping the wheel of the cyclist behind and unbalancing the bike.

 “We’ve been organising the Circuito dell’Assunta for 52 years, and for three years in the women’s competition. I’ve never seen an accident like this.”

 The race winner, Elisa De Vallier, dedicated her win on the circuit to her teammate Toniolli.

 bq