When you ride a bike for 60 kilometers with a broken kneecap, this is what your knee looks like the next day:

When you have a broken knee cap and decide to keep going for another 60km pic.twitter.com/cGoidtQH3w — PHILIPPE GILBERT (@PhilippeGilbert) July 25, 2018

Philippe Gilbert suffered a terrifying crash Tuesday while descending from Portet d’Aspet on Stage 16 of the Tour de France. Somehow, Gilbert was able to get up and continue riding on his bike to the end of the stage, though it turns out that wasn’t the best decision. When the adrenaline wore off, Gilbert realized he had a broken kneecap, and wisely abandoned the Tour de France.

Looking at that kneecap, it’s hard to believe those two legs belong to the same person. Which is yet another reminder that professional cyclists aren’t wired like you and me. Again, here is Gilbert’s crash:

Philippe Gilbert is getting back on a bike after this ... pic.twitter.com/XeD9t1triw — Louis Bien (@louisbien) July 24, 2018

He went ass over teakettle on a bullet descent just a few hundred meters away from Fabio Casartelli crashed and tragically lost his life in 1995, and KEPT GOING. And if Gilbert could physically bend his knee, he might still be racing, trying to dig into his rivals and yet more treacherous mountain climbs.

Cyclists are the wildest athletes in the world and I will hear no argument otherwise.