Horror story of Oman hospital mistreatment from recovering Cofidis rider: 'I told the doctor, 'I'm in pain—I'm dying!''

TW: This story contains brief mention of graphic medical procedure

On February 10, Touzé crashed hard into a guardrail at 60 kilometres per hour and, just two weeks later, told his story to Ouest France. At the time, the cyclist was taken to Shifa Hospital in Oman with a perforated intestine, a ruptured spleen, a broken leg, and a severe knee injury. According to him, his foot was up near his thigh, and he was experiencing “severe pain” in his abdomen.

The perforated intestine was the biggest concern, so Touzé was taken straight to the operating room. “At first, they didn’t realise I had a hole in my intestine, which made my condition worse.” But even worse: Touzé underwent surgery while his anesthesia wasn’t working properly.

"They gave me some kind of numbing spray, but it didn't work. I told the doctor, 'I'm in pain—I'm dying!'" While a man next to him died of a heart attack at that very moment, Touzé was told that he needed surgery and that there was no time to travel to a better hospital in Muscat.

The surgery turned into a nightmare, because not only was Touzé in excruciating pain, but it turned out that the hole in his intestine had been closed, while the abdominal wall was still open. The surgical wound swelled up the following night, and Touzé told L'Equipe that a doctor repeatedly stabbed him in the abdomen with scissors to relieve the pressure.

It wasn’t until he arrived in Belgium that it became clear Touzé’s abdomen was still open. “It was as if I’d been cut open,” said the Frenchman, who underwent two surgeries in just a few days and miraculously survived it all. Touzé’s wife reportedly filmed the procedure at the very first hospital, with the victim having not raced since Oman. The photo below shows a massive scar.

Videos on his social media channels show that Touzé has already made significant progress in his rehabilitation, but it is not yet clear whether he will race professionally again. He does not yet have an official contract for 2027, as his contract with Cofidis has expired.