The crash at the Itzulia Basque Country caused many casualties.
Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Steff Cras and Jay Vine were all among the big victims. For Vingegaard and Evenepoel, a race against the clock immediately began to make it to the start of the Tour. Vingegaard broke several ribs and his collarbone, but also suffered a bruised lung and a collapsed lung.
The Dane had to stay in hospital in Spain for a long time before he could return to Denmark, let alone touch his bicycle again. On the other hand his main opponent Tadej Pogacar had pretty much perfect preparation with Giro d'Italia victory. But despite some doubts, Vingegaard made it to the start of the Tour and even gave spectators a glimpse of potential battle for overal triumph after a victory in the eleventh stage. In the end, Pogacar was far beyond everyone's reach, but the same goes for Vingegaard who finished convincingly second.
A few months later, Jelle Vanendert thinks that after Vingegaard's fall, sand was thrown in his eyes. "I don't believe much in the story that Vingegaard recovered so slowly that he could only complete one altitude training camp before the Tour," he says in Het Belang van Limburg.
"Sixteen days in a hospital bed and then three months later, as the only one this year, to bring back Pogacar and beat him in a Tour stage...?" Vanendert shook his head.
We know it is possible because both Remco Evenepoel and Jay Vine did very well a couple months after that horror crash.
Jay even almost died (multiple fractured vertebrae and a fractured skull) and he came back and won the mountains classification at the Vuelta and won the team relay at the UCI Worlds. Not too shabby for someone who almost died!
Vine had an additional month and he didn't perform anywhere near the level of Vingegaard.
What the heck are you on about? Vingegaard wasn't even at the Vuelta?
We can only assume that there were several TUE’s in play in the intervening months between the accident and the tour. That is appropriate given the circumstances, that is what an exception is for. I can also imagine that he completely overdid it and will take longer to recover as a result.
Yep i Agree
Me too, and I certainly don’t like this saying something to say nothing for free. If people like this are so convinced of what they think, say it clearly and put your money where your mouth is. Is no-one daring enough to publicly declare anything where they risk being sued for defamation?
His trainer has said that Jonas never fully recovered after the Tour. He barely won Tour of Poland, it was obvious watching him ride that he was far below his usual level. So yes, he paid a price for his Tour participation, which is also one of the reasons he ended his season so early. Beyond the birth of his second child, there was no point since he was still exhausted and not competitive.