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Nicky Hayden is at the Bufalini hospital at Cesena where he continues to fight for his life. The American is in intensive care, where security has been increased by the police in recent hours..
No-one can get close except for the medical staff and family members who arrived from America over the weekend. There are a few who have visited him though, including Kevin Schwantz. The former rider, currently in Italy for the Suzuki GSX-R1000 launch, has visited his friend at the hospital.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, the Texas reveals a startling piece of information: «I was jogging from Gabicce Mare towards Riccione, when I met Nicky who was also training along the seafront close to Cattolica – he recalls - we ran together for a while, then, as we were saying goodbye to each other, Nicky asked me to go cycling with him that afternoon. I told him no, as I didn't have my road bike with me. Then a couple of hours later I heard about the terrible accident - he added – I'm struggling to accept it. I'm not saying it would have been different if we'd been together but, who knows, perhaps we'd have been elsewhere”.
Schwantz continues: “The ironic thing is that as soon as I started running again, I realised I should have taken a photo with Nicky to put on Facebook. The message would have read: ‘Hey, look who I ran into while jogging around Cattolica’. Then I told myself it didn't matter because I'd no doubt see him over the following days". The former rider is clearly still shaken up: “I have never raced with him, but he's a great guy to spend time with and he has a fantastic family. What has always impressed me about him is that he's always wanted the best, racing wise, for his brothers Tommy e Roger Lee - he concludes - they always try to help each other to get better. The entire Hayden family is made up of fantastic people”.
