When Annemiek van Vleuten told us she was ‘ok’ after her crash during the Rio road race, most responded with sympathy. One twitter user, however, felt the need to tell her how to ride a bike. 

It’s fair to say that the Olympic road race didn’t go quite as van Vleuten had planned. Having battled over cobbles and a long, twisty, steep climb, she broke away with Mara Abbott on the upward gradient, ready to solo her way down the descent to the finish line to take Gold. Unfortunately, the technical descent which had claimed many riders in the men’s race the previous day caught her out too.

The watching world was shocked by the impact of her crash, and there was a lot of serious concern for her welfare. Therefore, we were all thrilled to learn that she was ‘ok’ and recovering in hospital.

The Dutch cyclist tweeted from her own account, saying: “I am now in the hospital with some injuries and fractures, but will be fine. Most of all super disappointed after best race of my career.

One user, however, obviously though van Vleuten needed advice on how to stay upright…

His advice isn’t particularly detailed though, and doesn’t offer any further information regarding the (apparently slightly off camber) hairpins of the descent in question. It also doesn’t consider that a rider chasing Gold might be a touch more likely to take little risks when seconds could be the difference between taking the win and being caught.

Interestingly, we didn’t see Martin sending any similar advice to Vincenzo Nibali who suffered a double fracture to the collar bone, or to Richie Porte who fractured his shoulder blade during the men’s race.