Stuart O’Grady underwent a MRI scan this morning and is awaiting results of tests carried out on him, but he has confirmed that he is feeling much better after his collapse on Sunday. “I’m OK,” he told former professional and Ozcycling.com journalist John Treverrow via SMS.
“Obviously the twin seater ride was all a bit too much for my brain to handle. With the previous bumps it’s had, it was all a bit too much. They’re just keeping me in for some tests and I should get out tomorrow. I’m fine.”
O’Grady collapsed shortly after riding a lap of the Valencia MotoGP race course on Sunday, suffering a seizure. He had been sitting on a twin-seater Ducati driven at high speed by 2007 MotoGP champion Casey Stoner, and his quotes suggest that it was the G-Forces which could have caused the problem.
O’Grady has suffered two head injuries in the past, including a fractured skull caused by a mugging in Toulouse, France in 1999. He was hit on the head by the thick metal part of a windscreen wiper and suffered a blood clot to his brain. This later caused a focal seizure, where he temporarily lost his sight and speech.
O’Grady also suffered a blood clot in a later crash. He is known as one of the toughest riders in cycling, riding successfully despite fracturing multiple bones during his career. These accidents included a dramatic, high-speed fall during the 2007 Tour de France.
He also had two bouts of tachycardia, where his heart rate increased dramatically, plus an operation to relieve a blockage in his iliac artery.
“They don’t come any tougher. I can’t put anyone above him,” said Treverrow in a 2007 Sydney Morning Herald article.
O’Grady, a past winner of Paris-Roubaix, had strong headaches after his collapse on Sunday. He has however felt fine since Monday. Earlier indications are that a lesion on his brain bled, causing the seizure.