narrow escape 'I'm lucky to be alive', says Irish pro cyclist Imogen Cotter after she's struck by car

Professional cyclist Imogen Cotter has said she is "lucky to be alive" after suffering a broken arm and leg, among a number of other injuries, after being hit by a car while training.

The incident took place on Wednesday in Spain, where she moved to in the past month.

Ms Cotter (28), who is based in Girona, said the incident happened when a car was overtaking a cyclist on the other side of the road and "drove head-on straight into me at high speed".

She was transported by ambulance to hospital after the accident, where the extent of her injuries were revealed.

Stitches

"I feel so lucky to be alive. I was taken by ambulance to hospital, where it appears I fractured my patella and broke my radius, as well as needing quite a few stitches," the Team Plantur-Pura rider said on Instagram from her hospital bed.

"I had surgery late last night. I'm just so grateful to still be here to write this.

"It could have been so much worse".

She shared photographs of her mangled bike and gave a video update where she showed both forearms, one bandaged and one in a cast, while her legs and face were also injured in the accident.

One knee is severely swollen while the other was in a cast after being operated upon on Wednesday night.

Despite the injuries, Ms Cotter said she felt "so lucky" and was "grateful to be alive expressed her gratitude that the outcome could have been so much worse.

"I hardly got any sleep last night as I kept waking up thinking I could have died. I'm feeling very grateful to be here," she said.

Ms Cotter, a native of Ruan, Co Clare, and a graduate of the University of Limerick, was a late-comer to cycling and only took up the sport in 2017.

Her endurance background of middle-distance running at 3,000m and 5,000m enabled her to adapt quickly and she emigrated to Belgium in 2018 in search of cycling success.

Having worked part-time jobs while racing in Belgium and in e-sports competitions on Zwift, she landed the national road race title in October last year.

Ms Cotter was then signed by Plantur-Pura on a one-year full-time contract, allowing her to concentrate solely on cycling.