American motorcycle racer Nicky Hayden, who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006, has succumbed to his injuries after he was critically injured in a cycling accident in Italy, officials say. He was 35 years old.
Hayden was cycling near the seaside resort of Rimini in northern Italy last Wednesday when he was struck by a car, causing severe brain damage which left him in an extremely critical condition. He was taken to Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena.
In an update on Thursday, the hospital said Hayden had suffered “serious polytrauma with subsequent serious cerebral damage.” He was placed in a medically-induced coma and succumbed to his injuries on Monday, the hospital said.
Hayden, who was born in Owensboro in Kentucky in July 1981, won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006, famously beating Valentino Rossi and breaking the Italian racer’s championship-winning streak. He received the nickname “The Kentucky Kid.”
Hayden’s death comes exactly a month after Italian cyclist Michele Scarponi, the 2011 Giro d’Italia champion, was killed when he was struck by a van while training near his home in Filottrano in the Italian region of Marche.
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