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Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard was among several riders hospitalised after a harrowing crash at the Basque Country Vuelta, which also caught up Olympic gold medalist Primoz Roglič and Remco Evenepoel, one of the favourites for the road race at Paris 2024.
Team Visma said Vingegaard was “conscious and will be examined in the hospital” after the crash, which occurred with less than 30 kilometres left in the fourth stage.
The 27-year-old Danish rider, who won the race in Spain a year ago, was hardly moving as he was put in an ambulance wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace.
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The accident happened as riders were making a right-hand turn, and one rider’s front tyre appeared to slip out and send other riders off the road. There were some large rocks in the area, though it wasn’t clear if any of the riders hit them.
Video and images of the crash showed riders strewn alongside the road, including in a concrete drainage ditch.
Vingegaard won both races he entered this season at Tirreno-Adriatico and the Gran Camino in Spain. He is considered the heavy favourite to triumph again at the Tour, which ends with a time trial in Nice this year because of the Paris Olympics.
“Over the radio we heard Jonas was involved in a big crash,” Visma sports director Addy Engels told Eurosport.
“We immediately saw that it didn’t look good when we arrived to him. Fortunately, he was conscious. Jonas is now being examined at the hospital. We are waiting for any updates now.”
Evenepoel, who won stages at the Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta last year, hit the pavement and landed in a wooded area during the crash, though he appeared to be walking away while clutching his chest. Evenepoel’s team, Soudal Quick-Step, later confirmed that he had abandoned the race and was “traveling to the hospital for examinations”.
Roglič was leading the overall race despite a heavy fall on Thursday. He was one of the riders that ended up in the drainage ditch, and he was later spotted walking to a Bora-Hansgrohe team car and driving away with a team staff.
The injuries to Roglič came one day after his teammate, Lennard Kämna, was hit by an oncoming vehicle and sustained serious injuries while on a training ride in Tenerife. Kämna was expected to spend several days in the intensive care unit.
Other riders taken to the hospital included Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates and Steff Cras of TotalEnergies, which reported its rider was conscious and “transferred to hospital to carry out additional examinations”. EF Education-EasyPost said two of its riders, Alexander Cepeda and Sean Quinn were involved, and Quinn was forced to abandon the race and his “medical evaluation was ongoing”. Others involved in the crash included Quinten Hermans and Natnael Tesfatsion.
The race was neutralised until the finish line, and the restart had to be delayed until doctors could rejoin the race to accompany the remaining riders. Six riders who had been in a breakaway stopped to wait in the next town, and they were allowed to sprint for the stage win but neither their times nor any bonuses would count for the general classification.
Louis Meintjes of Intermarché Wanty wound up winning the stage. Mattias Skjelmose took the overall race lead.
“It’s a sad day. I wish all the guys who crashed all the best and wish them a fast recovery,” Skjelmose said at the finish. “My mind is with the guys who crashed, and right now I am not thinking about the leader’s jersey.”
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