The winner of the previous two Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard, suffered a crushed lung and a pneumothorax during his fall on Thursday, but his condition is stable.
(MTI/EPA/Reuters pool/Christian Hartman)
Visma-Lease, which also employs Valter Attila, informed the Bike team on Friday that the 27-year-old Danish classic spent the night in the hospital, where he “slept well” and is in a stable condition. It was announced on Thursday that the cyclist’s collarbone and several ribs were broken, and for the time being it is questionable what condition he will be in this year’s Tour, if he can be at the start at all.
Serious fall on the Basque circuit, Vingegaard was taken to the ambulance on a stretcher
The accident happened on the Basque circuit, 36 kilometers from the finish line, when one of the competitors fell at high speed on a downhill course, and this started a chain reaction where almost everyone behind him fell. The Danish cyclist was also among the competitors on the pore, apparently he could hardly move, he could not stand up, the doctors already started treating him on the side of the road, and then he was taken to the hospital with an oxygen mask and a neck brace.
The other two big contenders, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, who are also preparing for the French circuit, were involved in the accident. The Olympic champion from Slovenia, who won the Vuelta a España three times and the Giro d’Italia last year, as well as the Belgian cyclist, the first two-time world champion in the Vuelta 2022, both gave up the race, the latter was also taken to the hospital for examination. Evenepoel also broke his collarbone and right shoulder blade, so he will undergo surgery on Friday in Belgium.
“Considering the circumstances, everything is going well. Evenepoel is on his way to Belgium and will be examined again tonight at the Herentals hospital. The Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege were two big goals for him, so he is disappointed that he can’t compete in them – He told Klaas Lodewyck sports director, referring to the fact that the Soudal-Quick Step star is forced to miss the Ardennes one-day classics. – First you need to rest and recover properly. Normally, his participation in the Tour de France is not at risk.”
After the mass crash, the organizers decided to declare the stage neutral, i.e. Thursday’s stage is not included in the overall result.
