Italian cyclist Marina Romoli underwent an operation on her spine lasting more than 7 hours at the San Rafaelle Hospital in Milano, Italy. The operation was reportedly a complete success and the Safi-Pasta Zara rider is said to have responded well. Doctors are cautiously optimistic, but will get a more complete picture tomorrow when she is revived from the induced coma that she has been in since her accident last Tuesday.
The 21-year-old from the Marche region, who will celebrate her 22nd birthday on Wednesday, was involved in a training crash just outside Lecco, north of Milano, on Tuesday. She was riding with her fiancé and another rider when a car cut across her path just as she was in the middle of a high intensity interval; there was nothing the rider could to do avoid a collision and she struck the side window.
Romoli has already undergone serious facial surgery, involving 500 stitches, but had to wait until today for the spinal operation to allow for trauma in the area to subside.