Jonas Vingegaard back on the bike! "Of course I hope to start in the Tour de France"
Cycling
33 days after his brutal crash at Itzulia Basque Country, Jonas Vingegaard returns to the bike. The Tour de France champion is back to training and hopes of returning to the race increase, as the takes his first outdoors training rider in over a month.
“This is the first time I've been outside on my bike again. It's very nice to finally be able to cycle again and finally ride on the road again," the Danish rider said in a video shared by Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "I'm really looking forward to the next steps. I'm feeling good. It's getting better every day. There are still some things I need to recover from, but it's getting better and better.”
A fractured collarbone, ribs and pneumothorax were the result of the very heavy fall he suffered in Itzulia. He did not actually fall into the concrete ditch like many others, but after falling at high speed he also hit rocks on the side of the road and was one of the four riders who needed prolonged medical assistance on the side of the road and ambulance; before being transported to Bilbao where he spent several weeks. Only in late April was he allowed to travel back home, where he could continue his recovery.
Over this period of time, including currently, questions were asked regarding his possible return to the Tour de France. “Of course I hope to start in the Tour de France," he said. It will be a race against time to reach his best form; specially as he is not with his teammates currently who are preparing for the Grand Boucle at altitude already. "We don't know yet how my form will develop and how my recovery will continue, but I am doing everything I can to be in top form there."
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People would be foolish to put him as pre TDF favorite. Of you bet against Pogi, then you are crazy!
He might start the Tour, up to him and the team. He'll have a hard time building form in time. But it's happened before. I thought Nibali would have to be pushed to get out of the Dauphiné in 2014. Then he rode Contador and Froome off his wheel before they crashed out of the race. If you think of it his number one contender will be Pogi assuming he arrives to the Tour and doesn't have a bad Giro crash. He will not be that fresh as he is going 100% in the Giro but he will be in form. Remco is looking good on his way back as well. He's making very hard efforts if you look on strava. Primoz is a question mark... Let's see who shows up!
And finish, hopefully. I see a little belly there ;-) What non-riders or those who’ve never trained for a serious goal don’t realise is that when you build a training program around a « long-term » goal like he did for the TdF and you are out for a significant number of days you actually fall behind far more than the number of days lost so your preparation has to change completely with far more compact intensities, faster build-up, less recovery, more stress, etc. Example, you start at the say typical for you 120 days off from your background level fitness and build up until the crash at 100 days off which eats up 30 days so you restart at 70 days off but (in his case) now in worse shape than at 120 days off, i.e. you’re whole build up has to go about twice as fast.
You never know, some GPs are more rider focused some are more team focused, as in who they consider they « work » for.
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- I was wondering what really happened, if he was just not yet peaking at this time of the year, or if this just wasn't going to be his year, but apparently the accident affected him.Ride197413-03-2025
- There is good in everyone. Hitler was kind to his dog wasn't he?Cyclingsbestfan13-03-2025
- We all hope it, like parents, but those type of children only learn from their own mistakes ;-) Yeah, feel lucky I heal pretty fast, even at advanced age but we don’t really get to see how things look under their clothes. For sure they have better pain killers but I don’t ever remember feeling much pain when in a state to ride on, the adrenaline seems to just focus on that one objective. Later is another thing, I once (only time ever) fainted in the shower an hour post accident when trying to clean a wound, luckily another rider who’d witnessed it had sacrificed himself not to leave my side.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- Yep. But if you hit something stationary at 40 mph, your life is changed. And even just sliding ... the fastest I ever crashed was 35 mph in a race, and it was almost 2 months before the last scabs disappeared. These guys heal much faster, but the pain is the same. I am hoping P is more careful so that he has a long career that ends when he decides. But he doesn't seem built that way.
Barney13-03-2025 - He’s lucky Mohoriç warned him not to follow (and that for once he listened to wiser) because the way M only just avoided disaster that day, T would have done a Senna. Regarding the 40mph, it’s not usually hitting the deck that’s crucial, it’s acrobatics and stationary objects that refuse to move much that do the damage.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- If you consider ALL the details, things were not as bad as we’ve come to expect from organisers, especially lately, however much can still be improved, especially communication wise. I guess saying the race is neutralised is maybe not enough to be clear in the “heat” of the action, perhaps adding a warning to stay tuned and not remove earpieces, to know if and when the race might resume would help. Weather is completely random so it can go both ways when things reach a limit and BOTH sides should always be prepared for that. As for harshness of conditions, 10cm of snow is less dangerous and difficult than sleet or iced roads, riding on without stopping is easier than restarting after cooling off, everyone is different, Hinault was kind of a European average built man with his 173/68 at the time, Jonas could play an extra in a concentration camp scene, all respect for him and all the others for finishing, some people’s moaning (from their comfy sofa) made it sound like he abandoned before complaining.Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- I was thinking the exact same thing as Kelly in the moment before the crash: if Pidcock is backing off your wheel while bombing a descent, you are going too fast. So many people talk about how dominant Pogacar is and how boring this makes cycling. However, with the stomach-churning risks he takes, his era could end on any day, just as it did for Froome and Bernal. I was surprised to see him remount after hitting the deck at 40-plus mph. I understand why his girlfriend can't even watch his descents. I am going to enjoy his time while it lasts.Barney13-03-2025
- Another brain dead take from the org. While they stayed cozy in their warm carsabstractengineer13-03-2025
- Ahhh, and there was me watching and thinking we might finally get an uncommented article. Now you leave Frieders no choice but to participate ;-)Mistermaumau13-03-2025
- I don’t think that was the sense he was conveying. Anyway, can’t change him much more, Tadej is a little like the Senna of cycling, will do as he wants and has to live with the consequences. MAYBE the fall will swing the heart/mind balance. For cycling popularity and fan discussions it won’t hurt to now have a Tour with a fit Jonas and Tadej having to recover from a nasty crash at P-R.Mistermaumau13-03-2025