After crashing in the Tour of the Basque Country: Vingegaard back on the road bike - this is the status of Roglic and Evenepoel
Thomas Goldmann
· 07.05.2024
Jonas Vingegaard is back on the road bike
A 45-second social media clip from Visma | Lease a Bike shows Jonas Vingegaard on a racing bike for the first time after his serious accident at the Tour of the Basque Country. "It's nice to finally be back on the bike as usual. Riding on the road again is incredible," says the Dane in the video on X (formerly Twitter). He feels good, is getting better day by day and there are still a few things he needs to recover from, adds the 27-year-old.
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"Of course I hope to be at the start of the Tour de France. We don't know exactly how my performance and recovery will develop. But I will do everything I can to be there in top form."
Vingegaard had been Crash on stage 4 of the Tour of the Basque Country On 4 April, he suffered several broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a bruised lung and a broken collarbone.
Tour de France participation of Jonas Vingegaard? Merijn Zeeman comments
Jonas is extremely talented and we know that he also recovers extremely quickly. - Merijn Zeeman
Merijn Zeeman, Head of Sport at Vingegaards Team Visma | Lease a Bikeemphasised that he could imagine the defending champion getting fit in time. "It will be difficult for Jonas to win, but it's not impossible," Zeeman told Wielerflits last Friday. "He is busy every day with his rehabilitation under the supervision of our medical staff and physiotherapists. We are definitely keeping open the possibility that he will make it to the start of the tour in Florence," Zeeman continued.
Tadej Pogacar shocked by Jonas Vingegaard's fall
Vingegaard's great rival Tadej Pogacar commented on the sidelines of the Giro d'Italia 2024 at Eurosport on the crash of the Visma pro. "We were watching the stage on TV. We fell silent when the crash happened. It looked horrific." Pogacar spoke of "a very big setback" for Vingegaard. The Dane is now "at the limit" in terms of his preparation for the 2024 Tour de France.
The team training camp in the Sierra Nevada organised by Visma | Lease a Bike and also the Criterium du Dauphine Vingegaard will definitely miss out. Zeeman believes that it is not absolutely necessary for the Dane to compete in the Dauphine in order to be successful in the Tour de France. The Dauphine is "not a key race" for Vingegaard. "I am convinced that Jonas can also work on his form with a good training block during this period in order to be in top form for the start of the Tour," says Zeeman.
"We take stock every week. The medical staff can't say much about the programme he will be able to do in the coming period. We have to wait and see, but we definitely still have hope that he will be able to defend his Tour title," says Zeeman.
Merijn Zeeman on stand with Wout van Aert
The 45-year-old Dutchman also explained that a start by Wout van Aert was not on the cards, who crashed heavily at Dwars door Vlaanderen at the end of MarchThe team has not yet made a final decision on the Tour of Norway (23 - 26 May). "In the best case scenario, Norway is feasible for him. But that can't be confirmed yet."
Rolf Aldag gives update on Primoz Roglic
There is also news from Vingegaard's rival Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), who was also involved in the crash at the Tour of the Basque Country. "It looks very positive. Of course he lost time (due to the crash), of course we would have liked to have won the Tour of the Basque Country with him, that's also clear. But now I think he did really well," explained Rolf Aldag, sports director at Bora-Hansgrohe, during the Giro d'Italia before the start of the 2nd stage last Sunday to Cyclingnews.
Roglic will therefore take part in a number of route inspections of the Pyrenean stages of the Tour as well as other training camps. The Slovenian is also due to line up at the start of the Criterium du Dauphine in June.
Roglic is said to be performing very well again in training: "He's producing really good performance data in training. So he's not just feeling good, we have objective figures and he's in pretty good shape."
Remco Evenepoel prepares for the Tour de France in the Sierra Nevada
The third big name to crash in the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country was Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step). The Belgian broke his collarbone and shoulder blade. The time trial world champion is now back on his bike and is currently at an altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada. On Monday, Evenepoel took part in an 80-kilometre ride with almost 2400 metres of climbing. On Strava he wrote "Okaaaay let's go".
Evenepoel also commented on his recovery progress on his YouTube channel. "I have the feeling that my shoulder is still stiff". However, this is "part of the recovery", says the 2022 Vuelta winner, "but I still have a lot of work to do before the Tour and all the other races in my programme."
