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Jolanda Neff made plans to spend her Kerstperiode in America riding the famed rugged, steep and rocky mountain bike trails of Pisgah National Forest near Asheville, North Carolina.

On Christmas, Neff suffered a collapsed lung, broken rib and punctured spleen when she crashed on a fast downhill. The injuries required hospitalization and surgery to stop internal bleeding due to her ruptured spleen.

Neff posted about the crash on Instagram:

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Hi everyone, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! While I was riding my mountain bike in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, I came off the trail at high speed and crashed onto a pile of tree trunks with spiky branches. My lungs partially collapsed, I broke a rib, and my spleen got ruptured which caused internal bleeding. To stop the bleeding, the medical team first wanted to remove my spleen with emergency surgery but luckily the trauma team at Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC, had an expert who could do a procedure called embolization, which meant he went into the artery of my leg to go up to the artery of my spleen to block it with a plug. I am very lucky to be in such good hands!! @luca_shaw has been taking such great care of me and I can’t thank him and his fantastic family enough for being here for me 24/7. Also big thanks to @steelcitymedia for getting me out of the woods. The people at Mission Hospital did an excellent job in a life-threatening situation and my guardian angel has been amazing the last couple days. Trek has been super supportive and sent me a bouqet of beautiful flowers. I‘m still in a lot of pain and breathing is hard, but my condition is stable now. I’m sleeping a lot. Further plans have not been made yet. Thank you to everyone for your messages! Jolanda 🖤

A post shared by Jolanda Neff (@jolandaneff) on

Neff had hoped to race the Cyclocross World Championships in Dübendorf in early February. We wish her a quick recovery from her injuries.

Featured image: Dave Mable