Tour de France champ badly injured in horror crash
Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard was among several riders hospitalised after a harrowing crash at the Basque Country Vuelta, which also caught up Olympic gold medalist Primoz Roglič and Remco Evenepoel, one of the favourites for the road race at Paris 2024.
Team Visma said Vingegaard was “conscious and will be examined in the hospital” after the crash, which occurred with less than 30 kilometres left in the fourth stage.
The 27-year-old Danish rider, who won the race in Spain a year ago, was hardly moving as he was put in an ambulance wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace.
The accident happened as riders were making a right-hand turn, and one rider’s front tyre appeared to slip out and send other riders off the road. There were some large rocks in the area, though it wasn’t clear if any of the riders hit them.
Video and images of the crash showed riders strewn alongside the road, including in a concrete drainage ditch.
Vingegaard won both races he entered this season at Tirreno-Adriatico and the Gran Camino in Spain. He is considered the heavy favourite to triumph again at the Tour, which ends with a time trial in Nice this year because of the Paris Olympics.
“Over the radio we heard Jonas was involved in a big crash,” Visma sports director Addy Engels told Eurosport.
“We immediately saw that it didn’t look good when we arrived to him. Fortunately, he was conscious. Jonas is now being examined at the hospital. We are waiting for any updates now.”
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