Tour champion Vingegaard still hopes to be in ‘top shape’ for this year’s race after bad crash
Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard pedals on his way to win the fifth stage of the Tirreno Adriatico cycling race, from Torricella Sicura to Valle Castellana, Italy, Friday, March 8, 2024. Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike a month after the bad crash that left him with a collarbone and several ribs broken, and the Danish rider aims to compete this summer at cycling’s biggest race. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP, File)
PARIS (AP) — Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike, just a month after a bad crash that left him several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
And the Danish rider is still hoping to compete at this year’s Tour, which starts in seven weeks.
“I feel good, it’s improving day by day,” Vingegaard said in a video released by his team, Visma–Lease a Bike. “I still have some things to recover from, but it’s going better and better. Of course I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France. We don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go, but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”
Vingegaard was hospitalized in Spain last month following the crash that involved other top riders during a chaotic Tour of the Basque Country. He also sustained a broken collarbone and a pulmonary contusion during the accident, which came less than three months before the start of the Tour de France on June 29.
He was back in the saddle on Tuesday.
“This is the first time back on the bike for me riding outside, and it’s really nice to finally be able to ride like normal again,” Vingegaard said in the video, standing by his bicycle. “Finally to be able to ride on the road is really amazing and I’m really looking forward to taking the next steps.”
Before the crash, Vingegaard had been considered one of the top favorites at the Tour again alongside his rival Tadej Pogacar, who is aiming for a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double this year.
Vingegaard was hardly moving when he was put into an ambulance wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace after the crash with less than 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) remaining in the stage. The pileup also took out Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, along with several other riders, many of whom needed hospital treatment.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports