Two of the main stars of the cycling peloton, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, suffered multiple fractures but avoided major injuries after their terrifying fall this Thursday in the Tour of the Basque Country. After the scare, the medical reports continued. It was first announced that the Danish Vingegaard had fractures in a collarbone and several ribs, shortly before it was reported that the Belgian Evenepoel had fractures in a collarbone and a shoulder blade.
Another great favorite was involved in the same fall, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, until now the leader and who, like Vingegaard and Evenepoel, had to abandon. ”It was a terrible fall but fortunately he is stable and conscious. Tests at the hospital revealed that he has a broken collarbone and several ribs. He remains under follow-up in the hospital,” indicated on social network X the Visma-Lease a Bike training of Vingegaard, the current double champion of the Tour de France.
Evenepoel also has a broken collarbone and, in his case, also has a broken right shoulder blade. For him, the possibility of competing in the Ardennes classic season and of being able to achieve a third successive victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 21) is gone.
Despite the severity of the injury, which now seriously compromises Vingegaard’s program between now and the Tour de France, the diagnosis came with almost a sense of relief due to how violent the fall was and the images of anguish that were experienced. The fall of the three, along with other runners, was in a curve about 33 km from the Legutio finish line. While Roglic and Evenepoel were able to get up, Vingegaard was the worst unemployed of the three, lying for a few minutes on the ground on the side in a safe position.
The Danish runner was later evacuated by ambulance, immobilized, with a breathing apparatus and a collar around his neck, according to television images. “Fortunately, he was conscious when we reached him. Jonas is now being examined in the hospital and we are awaiting results,” commented the sporting director of the Visma/Lease a Bike team, Addy Engels.
Roglic, leader of the race until now and who got up limping after the fall on Thursday, had already suffered another major fall on Wednesday, which had not prevented him from finishing the third stage despite suffering several bruises and contusions. Another runner, the Australian Jay Vine also stayed on the ground for quite some time this Thursday before being treated and evacuated to a hospital, as announced by his team.
“He is conscious and can speak,” the UAE team said at first, before announcing “fractures in the cervical spine and two dorsal vertebrae.” There was relief in this training when it was found that “there is no neurological complication or brain damage,” explained Dr. Adriano Rotunno. The fall occurred on the descent from Alto de Olaeta, where several runners who were chasing the day’s escapees entered a curve too quickly, several of them falling to the ground.
Race neutralized
“Falls are something we never want to see in cycling. Today unfortunately there was a very bad one. I wish a speedy recovery to my teammate Jay and all the comrades in the peloton,” reacted the Slovenian runner Tadej Pogacar, who is not participating in the Basque round. The race was stopped after the serious event while waiting for the doctors who were treating those affected to return, but given the impossibility of the doctors being able to return with the peloton, the race management decided to practically suspend the stage.
The riders of the peloton continued riding to the finish line in a neutralized manner and only the six escapees of the day competed for the stage victory, according to a decision by the race management, which also decreed that the stage times would not count for the general classification. .
The six runners who escaped in the lead, including the Spaniards Joseba López and Mikel Retegi and the Frenchman Mathieu Burgaudeau, covered the last 20 km of the stage in competition. With 10 km to go, South African Louis Meintjes (Intermarché) escaped to end up crossing the finish line alone to take his second victory in a WorldTour race.
The fall and abandonment of the favorites has changed the general classification, of which the Danish Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl Trek) is the new leader with 4 seconds of advantage over the Spanish Juan Ayuso (UAE). On Friday the fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, 175.9 km, between Vitoria and Amorebieta with one first category stop and two third category stops.
The Ecuadorian Alexander Cepeda and the Belgian Steff Cras also suffered the fall. The latter, with a pneumothorax in the right lung and several rib and vertebral fractures.
After the news of the cyclists’ fall, the competition organization decided to stop the race because all the ambulances had to go to the place where the injured were. In this way, the race continued with the six runners who until now were on their way to the finish line. The winner was the South African Louis Meintjes, who started at the last port of the day and easily released his escape companions. However, he barely raised his arms at the finish. There were no reasons to celebrate.