Petr Vakoc has undergone surgery at the Mediclinic Nelspruit, South Africa to stabilise the broken vertebrae he sustained during a training ride on Thursday, when he was clipped by a truck, his Quick Step Floors team have announced. His teammate Laurens De Plus was also hit by the truck.
The 25-year-old Czech rider went into surgery on Friday afternoon and spent the entire night under observation, before being awakened by the doctors on Saturday.
The post-surgery tests conducted this morning showed Petr responding to all stimuli, moving and talking with the doctors, who deemed the intervention a success. Now, the Quick-Step Floors rider will remain for ten more days in the hospital before traveling back to Europe.
“This morning I talked with Petr and he was relieved that everything went fine. The last 48 hours were long and nerve consuming, but we are happy things are good now. Petr needs a lot of rest and time to recover now, and we will be by his side to help him”, said the team’s trainer Koen Pelgrim.
