The images are chilling. The last winner of the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard, was hospitalized after a serious fall which also involved several riders, including Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, on Thursday during the 4th stage of the Tour du Pays Basque. All three men gave up.
The Dane was placed in a lateral safety position by the emergency services, before being evacuated on a stretcher with respiratory assistance and a neck brace, according to television images. The Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a bike) and Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) teams quickly announced their abandonment on their social networks. Both riders were transported to a hospital.
Series of dramatic falls
Another runner, the Australian Jay Vine, remained motionless on the ground for a very long time, taken care of by emergency services. His team also announced that he had been taken to hospital.
The organizers neutralized the race for a moment, before restarting it. The accident took place on a downhill bend around thirty kilometers from the finish. Several riders skidded towards the shoulder and hit stone blocks and a concrete drain. Roglic, who wears the yellow leader’s jersey, and Evenepoel got up after the accident, but Roglic left the scene of the accident by car.
This fall comes on top of a series of dramatic crashes this spring in cycling races. Last Wednesday, Wout Van Aert was notably caught in a collective fall in Across Flanders. Polytraumatized, the Belgian champion suffered burns to his back and especially fractures to his collarbone, ribs and sternum, signaling the end of his dream of winning the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.