“X-ray confirmed the fracture, maybe my rib is also broken. I really enjoyed the trip, but suddenly I fell off my bike and my airbag didn’t inflate. I’m sorry, ashamed. I don’t train I’ve been doing this for six months. In a year I want to come back and win,” said Podmol, who started out in the Original by Motul category for unassisted riders.
A 38-year-old motorcyclist crashed about 30 kilometers from the finish line. “I led the category and really enjoyed it on the route. I enjoyed it, I even forgot about the problems I had with my hand. But suddenly I flew off the bike and then I don’t remember much,” Podmol admitted. Examination revealed that he had a compression fracture of the seventh thoracic vertebrae.
He was unconscious for five minutes after the fall. “It felt like a good dream to be at the sea. Then I wake up and see two guys in helmets. I realized that I’m really in Dakar. I checked my hands and feet, which were fine, but I felt enormous pain in the back,” Podmol described.
Despite the pain, he got back on the bike and reached the finish line of the measured section. “Those thirty kilometers were a painful blow. Probably the craziest ride of my life. After that I had to ride another 190 kilometers to the road bivouac to complete the stage. In such pain I couldn’t even breathe. But I was still hoping I just had a bad rib,” added Podmol, who took 50th place on the stage with a 51-minute loss to the fastest Ricky Brabec from the USA.
