Max Anstie taken to hospital in Imola

Max Anstie has been taken to hospital report his team Standing Construct KTM.

The British rider who was selected for Team GB this week started his weekend well at the MXGP of Italy in Imola, putting in the third-fastest time in practice and would follow that up with a seventh place in the Qualifying race in the afternoon.

But the team report that the tough Brit delivered that seventh place with a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) that he sustained in the crash at Lommel.

The Standing Construct KTM Instagram post reads: “2nd and 3rd in the quali race at Imola MXGP for @hoff259 and @ivomonticelli. @maxanstie finished 7th but after the race was brought to the hospital with a pneumothorax from the crash in Lommel. The guy won a heat with only 1 lung – Get well soon Max!

We’ll update this story when we get more.

Update August 18, 00:35 BST: Anstie has given a firsthand account of what happened…

“Alright so I’m in hospital wondering how in the world I’ve ended up in here! So apparently I have pneumothorax which as far as I can understand here is gas around the outside of my lung. The doc said I have a small hole in my lung. I didn’t even crash today!

“They are saying from my crash in the first moto at Lommel on the start that my lung was damaged. I didn’t bother getting checked after the race because I won the second moto and thought I would just get better in a week or so! I have been complaining about my shoulder for the last couple of weeks because it feels like my shoulder blade is just stiff and when I breath in it’s just tight.

“Well today I felt good on track, after timed training I thought my shoulder was hurting more so I took some paracetamol and got on with it in the moto. But straight away I was struggling to breathe very well, but I just thought I must have muscle cramp under my shoulder blade.

“Anyway I came in from the race and could barely breathe so the docs did some scans and told me I have to go to the hospital and stay in here overnight and see if tomorrow they need to drain my lung.

“I have never experienced this before! I thought they would just give me some pain killers and I would be good to go.

“So annoying at this time when I’m riding for a job too. I felt good out on track and was ready to go hard in the motos. Not much I can do right now except listen to this beeping all night from the machines in the hospital. I’ll keep you updated but I’m definitely not riding tomorrow. I don’t even feel bad just breathings a bit hard but man this is annoying.”

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