2024-04-09 07:12:45
The impressive fall during the Tour of the Basque Country on April 4, in which Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel were caught, almost cost the life of Belgian rider Steff Cras.
In an interview with the Belgian media “ DH Sports + », he looks back on what happened to him, he who was the main victim. After falling to the ground, he explains that he was out of breath. “I couldn’t breathe for 30 seconds, only one of my lungs was working,” he testified four days after the accident.
Steff Cras, here on the right side of the concrete pit, leaning against the stone, believes she came close to death during the collective fall of the 4th stage of the Tour of the Basque Country. Eurosport screenshot.
The Total Energies rider, whose medical toll remains heavy – right pneumothorax, rib fractures, two vertebral fractures – also explains that he owes his survival to a few things. “I understood when I saw the concrete block that within 20 centimeters, I would have died,” testifies the man who had already given up due to a fall in the Tour de France in 2023. While he had started the race in good shape, he had hit a spectator during the stage between Libourne and Limoges.
In his interview, the 28-year-old rider says he hopes to be able to get back on a bike for the Tour de France this year and pleads for a gear limitation. He also hopes that in the future, race organizers will be able to be more proactive on roads that can be dangerous.
The fall of the 4th stage of the Tour of the Basque Country had a big impact on the world of cycling. Already by its violence, but also because big names in the peloton were involved, like the last winner of the Tour de France Jonas Vingegaard, who fractured his collarbone, several ribs and also suffered from a pulmonary contusion , lung injury, and pneumothorax.
His former teammate Primoz Roglic also fell and published an impressive photo of his bruised body on social networks.
Steff Cras is not the only one who thought he would pass through this enormous collective fall. Jay Vine, UAE-Emirates rider and victim of three bills, caused turmoil among those close to him, his wife explaining “not being sure if she still had a husband” after the accident which led to the neutralization of the ‘stage.
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