“Everyone was looking forward to the big showdown at the Tour de France between Vingegaard, Pogacar, Roglic & Evenepoel" - Richard Plugge claims 'crashes ruin the sport'
CyclingSaturday, 13 April 2024 at 15:00
Excitement had been building for a long time for this summer's Tour de France with Grand Tour cycling's 'Big 4' set to battle it out for the Maillot Jaune in a mouthwatering prospect for fans. Sadly, one crash at the Itzulia Basque Country seems to have put that idea out the window.
Three of the 'Big 4' were caught up in the crash. Remco Evenepoel having multiple fractures and Primoz Roglic fracture fracture-free but covered in scrapes and bruises, but it was Team Visma | Lease a Bike's two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard who was worst affected and remains in hospital at the time of writing, nearly two weeks on from the incident.
“We have to see how they recover as people and only then we can think about when they return to cycling. At the moment it’s way too early, we need to let them rest and recover,” Visma boss Richard Plugge told Cycling News when asked for an update on the Dane's condition.
Plugge, an outspoken advocate for more rider safety in the peloton, is angry and frustrated that crashes continue to 'ruin the sport' as he puts it. “Crashes ruin our sport,” he says bluntly. “Everyone was looking forward to the big showdown at the Tour de France between Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel. Now we might not have that. It’ll be incredibly sad for the sport if any of them are unable to race the Tour de France. We have to do something about it. It's very difficult to see your riders lying on the ground and know that young people, their families and friends will suffer from it all too. It's not only Jonas or Wout that hurts me, it’s terrible seeing any rider crash hard."
Plugge's SafeR campaign's implementation into the peloton has been delayed due to UCI bureaucracy, much to the frustration of the Visma boss. “A lack of action on safety makes me sad and really mad. We have the beginning of the solution in the SafeR project. It’s basically ready to go but for political reasons, it's really dragging on. There's been an urgency about safety for years but how many wake up calls do we need?" he questions angrily. “Why is there a delay? If safety improves, then safety improves, it's good for everybody."
“All the people sit in front of the television or are glued to social media, perhaps they should try to race over wet cobbles – it's like an ice rink, it’s not safe,” he concludes, praising the introduction of a chicane before the Arenberg Forest at the recent Paris-Roubaix. “Everyone has to play their part in improving safety. We all benefit from a safe sport: the rider obviously, but also their teams and sponsors, the race organisers, the UCI, and of course the fans and anyone who loves our sport. We all have to be ready to change the sport, even if we might not like the changes or if it costs us something. We’ll benefit in the long run. We have to put safety first.”
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- Poor Mas, an enemy in house.
maria2024202401-06-2025 - Majka, without you, UAE would have been a complete disaster. Too much ego in this group, when it was possible, you put order and protect your baby-captain (same job you did with Tadej).maria2024202401-06-2025
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Seeing this in English football before. When the team relied heavilly on their star riders, and they get injured, the whole team suffered. Everyone else must step up, while the star riders are injured. Not much wrong to say on that sir!
What’s wrong is expecting the same results from the rest of the team. When you invest 50% (or more) of salaries in one rider you cannot expect the others to deliver the same results when he’s gone. You know that and the other riders know that.
If you expect them to manage just as well you’ve just proven you’re trying to underpay them.
Haha! It's like English football, if the star players struggles, wether it was due to lack of form, injuries or both, then everyone else has to step up! It is what it is. Not really "underpays" however it is shown how massively underprepare Quickstep on this bad luck cycle. You cannot relied on the key riders for results, everyone needs to step up even more, when the leaders are injured.
Not much you can say is wrong about that
That's cycling. Some days you are lucky, and then other days you are not. And does Remco even been a candidate to win TDF anyway? He's at best a dark horse for the GT! Am I the only one to be glad that he is not going to be in this year's TDF?
Remco makes racing interesting so I like his participation in any event. I don’t think he has the ability to win a 3 week tour yet but he is still young.
Yeah, but he is not a GT candidate, and probadly will never will. And he is not known to race 3 weeks in a row or avoiding runs of bad luck. Yes, he makes races interesting and still young, but cycling is one of the cruelest sports ever, 2nd only to golf, just don't force me of bringing out those golf parts😂, unless you want to be burn by them😅. Thanks for the time
Nobody cares who likes Remco or not, the fact is he can always add something to the outcome of a race, firstly because he is willing to attack and secondly because he can be the bridge for anyone trying to catch anyone else. No leader or candidate for a win can discount his actions or his contributions to an action. And in the end all little bulls grow into older bulls, some may take longer but they get there in the end.
Well, he's not really my top candidate to win GT's, Pogi, and hopefully Jonas returns next year😕. Rather see him on the peloton over Remco. Remco always let his mouth do the talking than his results. I am happy hearing less of his complains, he complains more than most women did in their spare time😅.