"I know I can't do anything about Jonas falling, but I was in the car" - Visma DS admits he took Vingegaard's Basque Country crash personally
Cycling
The 2024 Itzulia Basque Country was a race that won't soon be forgotten. Sadly, that is also to do with incidents that happen away from the actual fight for victory as a massive crash saw the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel among others leave the race in an ambulance.
Vingegaard especially was badly hit by the crash. The Dane left the race on a stretcher, heading into the back of an ambulance with an oxygen mask, suffering serious injuries such as a broken collarbone, several broken ribs and most worryingly, a punctured lung that left the Team Visma | Lease a Bike in intensive care. As proven by his more than creditable Tour de France performance, the crash amazingly didn't completely wipe out Vingegaard's hopes for the season, but that didn't stop it having a big effect on team sports director, Frans Maassen.
"I take things personally. I know: I can't do anything about Jonas falling, but I was in the car behind him to coach him," Maassen recalls of the incident in conversation with Wieler Revue. "Then you feel very unhappy when someone is in such a mess. Also about yourself. Really taking the blame is not the right term, but I go through all kinds of scenarios in my head to see what I could have done differently. Just like after the incident between Dylan Groenewegen and Fabio Jakobsen in the Tour de Pologne."
As touched upon there, this also wasn't Maassen's first experience of such a serious crash. "I also said that Dylan had to get through the last corner well. I don't think I could do anything about it, but you do have a certain responsibility," he explains. "The day after the accident in Poland, I rode to the start with lead in my shoes. I felt so bad about what had happened. I can't just shake that off."
Read also
💥Brutal caída masiva en la 🇪🇸Vuelta al País Vasco 2024. 🇩🇰Jonas Vingegaard, 🇧🇪Remco Evenepoel y 🇸🇮Primoz Roglic entre los más perjudicados. 🇪🇸 #Itzulia2024 #Itzulia #Noticiclismo #Ciclismo pic.twitter.com/wddWWGfvhl
— NotiCiclismo (@Noticiclismo1) April 4, 2024
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment