Tour of Spain - Vingegaard wins 16th stage - concern for Van Hooydonck

Cycling star Jonas Vingegaard won the 16th stage of the Tour of Spain and dedicated his success to his seriously injured team-mate Nathan Van Hooydonck.

The Dane Vingegaard won the uphill finish in Bejes as a soloist and grabbed his heart shortly before crossing the finish line - an obvious sign to Van Hooydonck. The Belgian had to be resuscitated on Tuesday morning after a road accident and is in hospital.

"I'm just happy to have won. There was terrible news, I wanted to win for my friend. Luckily there is good news," said Vingegaard. His helper Attila Valter said, "We heard on the team radio at the bottom of the final climb that Nathan was awake and doing well. Everything is fine in the end. We took the stage for Nathan, this victory is his."

Concern for Van Hooydonck

Vingegaard's team-mate Sepp Kuss continues to lead the overall standings of the Vuelta. However, the US-American is only 29 seconds ahead of the two-time Tour de France winner, who attacked around four kilometres from the finish on Tuesday. Third is Primoz Roglic, also from the Jumbo-Visma team, who is 1:33 minutes behind.

The riders' thoughts were with their team-mate Van Hooydonck. The 27-year-old had helped Vingegaard to win the Tour of France for the second time in July. Citing the local police, several Belgian media reported that Van Hooydonck had to be resuscitated after an accident and was then hospitalised conscious. The accident occurred in Kalmthout, north of Antwerp.

The Jumbo-Visma team confirmed the accident. He had felt unwell behind the wheel, which led to his involvement in the road accident, the team wrote on X, the former Twitter. "He was immediately taken to hospital where he is receiving good medical care. We cannot confirm rumours that he is in a critical condition," the team said. Van Hooydonck will undergo further medical examinations.

Photos in the online edition of the newspaper "Het Laatste Nieuws" show several damaged cars at a road junction. "The driver was resuscitated at the scene and taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition. His pregnant wife, who was sitting next to him, was uninjured but was also taken to hospital," said Patrick De Smedt, spokesman for the border police.

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