VIDEO: Jonas Vingegaard talks about Itzulia's crash in new Visma documentary - "I had no air in my lungs, after which I felt like I had to cough. Then I spat out pure blood"

Team Visma | Lease a Bike were to create a documentary on their preparation and racing the 2024 Tour de France and they ended up having bigger stories than those expected. Jonas Vingegaard suffered a brutal crash in April at the Itzulia Basque Country and his recovery is documented. The Dane talked about the accident that threatened his career and life with haunting words.

This happened on stage 4 of the Basque race was will likely be the most shocking moment of the year in professional cycling. Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel and several others crashed at high speed, several riders crashed into a ditch. Vingegaard was not one of them but he hit a bunch of rocks on the side of the road, suffering a fractured collarbone, ribs and punctured lung. He was one of the four riders that required serious medical attention for a long time on the side of the road.

He talks about this accident in detail, the moments before and after the crash in the new documentary 'A True Renaissance': "We were on a fast descent in the Basque Country. We came into a bend, but the road was a bit bumpy. Because of that I couldn't brake. After another bump I hit the ground. I had no air in my lungs, after which I felt like I had to cough. Then I spat out pure blood."

Vingegaard's situation was bad and that was quickly understood as he layed conscious but motionless on the side of the road. "At that moment I wasn't thinking about the Tour at all. That wasn't important to me. It was more important to stay alive. I don't know if my life was really in danger, but it felt like it because of the blood I was spitting out," he details. 

It was a brutal accident that required a lot of support. His recovery was by most people's standards miraculous, as he spent 8 days in intensive care and almost two whole weeks in the hospital in the Basque Country before he could fly home to Denmark. Only in early May, a month after could he get on the bike once again and in the space of month and a half he was able to recover from his injuries and prepare himself well enough to fight for the win at the Tour de France, coming second to only Tadej Pogacar in the overall classification.

The 51-minute documentary provides a lot of insight into Visma's Tour campaign including moments from before, during and after the race - captured by TV broadcast but also Visma's own filming crew.