Ex-pro shakes his head on Vingegaard's miracle return story: "Sixteen days in a hospital bed and then three months later he's the only one to take down Pogacar"

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.