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"
CyclingFriday, 25 October 2024 at 09:40
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.
claps 107visitors 9
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
May 12, 11:09
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Does anyone think this result could have been "planned" by Tadej? I mean, yes he lost a lot of time but you didn't see him really push after exiting corners getting up from the bike, he even used his water bidon (on a 17km TT?) to take a sip... he started at a steady controlled pace and maintained that pace throughout the stage, no pushing at the end to limit time loss... Could this be some kind of bluff by Tadej? "Oh no, I didn't manage my effort, look guys I'm so vulnerable..." and then in the Tour de France crush them once more? We'll have to wait and see!Lobz7712-06-2025
- Good luck Robin. I'm glad you are on the mend. Life is wonderful. Keep focussed on that.Cyclingsbestfan12-06-2025
- Come on, it's not serious and you know it. But If your happiness is winning arguments, even with sophistry, ok. I like making people happy: YOU'RE RIGHT.
maria2024202412-06-2025 - The word is that Jonas is running 150mm cranks on his road bike, I can't tell on his TT bike but they look much shorter. I moved to 155mm cranks at the end of 2023 for both my road bikes and my TT bike, it's been a game changer for me and looks to agree with Jonas as well.awp12-06-2025
- as of the day he rode the TT in yellow at the TDF in ‘21, mvdp had NEVER been in a wind tunnel and NEVER ridden his TT bike a single day except for the days he had to in stage races. that day he finished 5th, one second behind wout, and hung on to his yellow against all expectations.OCexile11-06-2025
- well THIS is music to my ears. i’ve always thought — and said here several times — that van der poel SHOULD be a great time trialist, and the only reason he isn’t is that he just never gives his all unless it’s an event HE genuinely cares about, and for whatever reason he’s just never liked TTs. but his natural riding position is beautifully aerodynamic, and he has the ability to empty his tank to a degree that i think is basically unmatched. i hope his passion for this event grows.OCexile11-06-2025
- So he went from not doing the Vuelta to doing it for training. Guillen must have called his bossabstractengineer11-06-2025
- That said, we’ve seen Jonas being real good in TT before but this was really short and favoured others more.Mistermaumau11-06-2025
- People forgot that EVERY rider not past his peak can attain new levels and that no-one can tell when that happens. Last year Tadej and Remco did it and Tadej kind of again this spring but in a different register, this year it’s Mads, and maybe now Jonas? After the jump there is usually a plateau or even a lull before any more improvements so it’s unlikely Tadej will be even better at the Tour whereas it’s likely Jonas could be.Mistermaumau11-06-2025
- Considering the « unlimited » budget they have, that they’re prepared to pay their leader 8 per year, paying a very good domestique who can take over for the leader in emergency or replace when leader isn’t present (winning around 15x already at this age) 2 per year is the price to prevent him becoming a rival at another team until such time as said leader slows or stops. In the meantime, it wouldn’t be in their interest to allow a chap with this character to develop into leader challenging shape so who is to say if he is receiving optimal guidance for developing into a leader beater?Mistermaumau11-06-2025
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.