US bike champion Hayden has ‘very serious brain damage’: Doctors

ROME: Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden (pictured) spent a second day in intensive care on Thursday after colliding with a car while cycling in eastern Italy, the American’s Honda World Superbike team said on Thursday. Doctors placed the 2006 MotoGP champion into a medically induced coma, the BBC reported.

“Following the incident, Nicky was treated on site by medical staff and then taken by ambulance to a hospital near Rimini for immediate treatment,” Red Bull Honda said in a statement.

“Once Nicky’s condition was stabilised, he was transferred to Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena and remains in the hospital’s intensive care unit.”

Italian media quoted the hospital as saying on Wednesday evening that Hayden had suffered a cerebral edema and lower body fractures and surgery had not been possible immediately.

Italian great Valentino Rossi, who leads the championship and is racing in France this weekend, hailed his former team-mate as “one of the best friends I have had in the paddock”. — Agencies