Vogels' helmet took so much of the impact, it actually compressed into his head

Triathlon Forum
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oh man thank god for Helmets

Henk Vogels’ season over after horrific crash

By Anthony Tan from CyclingNews

The Fitchburg Longsjo Classic was overshadowed by a horrific crash involving Navigators rider Henk Vogels, who remains in traction at Massachusetts University Hospital.

At the time, Vogels was in a small breakaway group that had almost being caught by the peloton early into third stage around Princeton. As the Australian looked behind him to gauge their lead to the main group, Vogels clipped wheels with the rider in front of him on a high speed descent, tumbling out of control and hitting the guard rail several times before coming to a halt.

“Chris Horner said he’d never seen anyone crash that badly and live,” said Vogels’ wife Cindy, who is currently at their Australian home on the Gold Coast and expecting the birth of their second child. “They even stopped the race at one point because they thought it was all over, and from what they’ve told me, he looks like he’s been hit by a bus.”

Cindy Vogels’ description of her husband is apparently no exaggeration: Vogels remains immobilised at the Trauma Center at Massachusetts University Hospital, where a team of specialist doctors performed three hours’ reconstructive surgery for a triple break in his callus (ankle bone) and have kept him in traction as a precautionary measure for a fracture to his C7 vertebrae.

Doctors at the hospital have also said that Vogels’ helmet saved his life. “I’m just so glad he had a helmet on; they said that if he didn’t have the helmet on, it would have been game over for sure,” said Cindy Vogels to Cyclingnews, who, not surprisingly, is still in a state of shock and disbelief herself.

Apparently Vogels’ helmet took so much of the impact, it actually compressed into his head and cut his skull, however, the cuts resulting from the helmet’s impact are minor in comparison to the injuries sustained throughout the rest of his body. Despite the frustration of being half-way across the other side of the world, Mrs Vogels remains positive about Henk’s return to good health, and much later down the track, back to racing.

“I’m just hoping that each day, he’s getting better,” she said. “It’s just frustrating being so far away, but I know he’s in good hands. They flew him to a really good hospital which has a really amazing trauma ward.”

Unlike the European road season that is currently at its midway point, the road cycling season in the United States is nearing its end, which means Vogels’ season is effectively over. Once he is well enough to travel back home to Australia, Henk will most likely undergo intensive rehabilitation at the hands of renowned physiotherapist Victor Popov, and hopefully be well enough to see the birth of his second child.

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helmets save lives. In my book your already brain dead if your not wearing yours.

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I was in Saturday’s race. I did not see Henk go down but I saw the aftermath, no question he is still alive because of that helmet. We were easily doing 55mph down that hill. I am glad I did not see it happen because I was spooked enough just going by him lying on the ground with a shattered helmet. If that was not enough, halfway through the race Brian Sheedy from WV/Gomart goes down right next to me doing 50mph. He hit a bump (the pavement is in really bad shape) and lost control of the bike. Always wear your helmet…you never know the day it is going to save your life!

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I’ve done this race in the past…I would say that 55mph for the pro race would be pretty conservative. I was in a much lower catergory and our speeds neared that and friends in the pro,1,2 field reported max speeds between 60-65! Its a scary fast straight descent with quite a few potholes. My best of wishes to the Vogels

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“Apparently Vogels’ helmet took so much of the impact, it actually compressed into his head and cut his skull”

As I understand it, bike helmets are designed to absorb, not transfer the forces of an impact. Simply put, if you placed a 2x4 on your forehead and someone hit it with a wooden gavel (for example), the force of the impact would be transferred directly to your head… and it would hurt. If you placed a section of a styrofoam ice-chest on your forehead and someone hit it with a wooden mallet, the styrofoam would break apart absorbing the impact… less or no pain.

Another example is in auto racing, when you see a formula one car hit something, it virtually disintegrates, absorbing the forces of the impact. It’s designed to do that.

This helmet transferred enough of the impact to cut into his head and/or skull. I don’t know what the state of bike helmet design/engineering is, and I don’t know if what happened, considering the circumstances of the crash is avoidable, but it’s certainly thought-provoking.

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People STILL don’t listen, despite things like this coming out, which frustrates me. I get the patent excuses, like “I don’t go fast enough to wear a helmet” and “Yeah, racers NEED helmets”.

Bunnyman ain’t that fast and a helmet has saved his head not once but twice this year alone. If it saved my head AND a real rider’s head going at a real speed, it can save anyone’s head.

Thank G’d that Henk is okay. Thank G’d for helmets.

Note new signature:

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I stopped a guy the other day who was riding a comfort bike around the neighborhood loop and politely suggested that he should really be wearing a helmet. For some reason my broken, cast encased hand and swollen, badly bruised leg and mangled Saber in the back of my truck were not enough to convince him that wearing a helmet was a good idea because “you never know”! He gave me that same tired excuse that he doesn’t ride fast enough. I tried explaining the physics of acceleration of the head as the body lands and whips the head against the nearest hard object. NO AVAIL. I even offered up an old helmet I had for the simple price of riding 1/4 mile to my house and I’d hand it to him. Nothing doing. Fortunately for him my stupification over his lack of brains will not stop me from stopping and at least attempting to put them back in his skull when the unfortunate happens. Some people cannot be taught.

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How’s Henk? Vogels recovering from brutal crash
By Neal Rogers
VeloNews associate editor
This report filed July 1, 2003
A violent high-speed crash at Fitchburg may have cost Aussie Henk Vogels his season, but he was miraculously spared something for more precious to him and to his family - his life.

Early on in stage 3, Vogels and Navigators teammate Jeff Louder broke clear of the field to help drive a small breakaway group. As the group neared the bottom of the long, fast descent down Wachusett Mountain, they were nearly caught by the peloton when Vogels apparently glanced behind him to assess their lead and clipped his wheel with another rider, sending him flying head first into the guardrail, shattering his helmet and fracturing his C-7 vertebrae.

Following in a team car, Navigators’ general manager Ray Cippolini was quick to arrive on the scene. “When I first stopped he wasn’t even moving,” Cippolini said. “It wasn’t until a few seconds later that he said that he was in fact in pain, and was cognizant of that fact. Even with all the blood loss, he was still complaining about the pain, which was a good sign. I’ve been in the sport for a long time, and it was one of the worst crashes I’ve ever seen.”

Navigators’ directeur sportif Ed Beamon was also racing, and pulled off as he passed emergency workers attending to a bloody and unconscious Vogels, who was immediately rushed to the University of Massachusetts hospital where it was determined that he had also shattered his ankle in three places.

“This is a good story about the importance of helmets,” Beamon said. “I spoke with a police officer that had a radar gun on the riders on that descent, and he said they were coming in close to 65 mph. Henk’s doctor said that, without question, the helmet saved his life. From what the were telling me, it was probably the most violent crash any of them had ever seen.”

The crushing impact of Vogels’ Limar helmet was so severe that it actually impacted into his head, causing severe lacerations that required stitches and staples to close.

After the peloton had passed the wreckage, word initially trickled through the pack that Vogels was not responding, and for a brief period, the worst was feared, causing racing to temporarily come to a halt. “The peloton pretty much stopped at the bottom of the hill and waited for word before they got back to racing,” Beamon said. “Something like that really takes the wind out your sails, and it unnerved the guys a bit.”

One of the most respected members of the domestic peloton, Vogels has amassed an impressive race resume that includes two top-ten finishes at Paris-Roubaix (1997-98), a fourth-place stage finish at the 1999 Tour de France and a second-place at this year’s Ghent-Wevelgem - as well as the overall victory at Fitchburg in 2000.

“If there was ever any doubt as to whether or not a helmet works, there is no doubt,” Cipploini said. “All our guys wear a helmet everywhere they race. I saw the French riders were protesting wearing helmets at their national championship, and I’d like to show them a photograph of Henk’s bloody, shattered helmet. You can actually see the imprints of the guard rail on his helmet.”

Beamon explained that while the initial prognosis is that Vogels is expected to make a full recovery, he might be wearing a neck brace for as long as 12 weeks. “But knowing Henk,” Beamon added, “It wouldn’t surprise me if we saw him doing some early season Aussie races.”