During the Tour du Pologne in August, Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates) had a brutal crash that left him in a coma for two weeks and required 11 hours of facial surgery. Four months later, the 25-year-old is back on the bike.
“I had a broken jaw, a broken nose, and somehow I didn’t lose my sight,” Baroncini said to Sporza. “I still can’t bring myself to look at the photos from right after the crash.”
The accident happened during the third stage on a nasty gravel descent. “I lost control and hit a wall. I remember every detail,” he says. Former world champ Michał Kwiatkowski, also involved, alerted his team doctor, who stayed by Baroncini’s side. “I’m still grateful to both of them,” he said.
Baroncini spent 45 minutes in an ambulance before paramedics rushed him to the hospital. Once there, he underwent emergency surgery on his collarbone, but it was the extensive facial fractures that worried doctors most. His family flew to Poland to be by his side during his coma, a period he recalls with emotion: “If I could have reassured my father then, I would have, but I couldn’t.”
Flown to Italy for reconstructive surgery, Baroncini went through an 11-hour operation. “Waking up, I realised it was a miracle I was alive and could still see,” he says, noting that his racing glasses had shattered, sparing his eyes by mere millimetres.
Baroncini returned to riding on Oct. 28 during team days in Abu Dhabi. “I’m still not at full strength. But being back on the bike feels amazing. I have to be patient.”
He has begun working with a psychologist to process the trauma and hopes to race again by March. Looking ahead, Baroncini is excited by races like Milan-Sanremo and Belgian Classics.
“After everything, I just want to enjoy racing again,” he said.