A terrible fall happened on April 4th at the “Tour du Pays Basque” and several victims including some cycling stars have been suffering and hurt.
Jonas Vingegaard, twice the winner of the “Tour de France” at 27 years old, has collarbones and multiple rib fractures. He has been suffering for long minutes in the recovery position with a life support system and a neck brace. Thereafter, he went to the hospital in an ambulance on a stretcher. Remco Evenepoel had a broken collarbone and was operated on Friday, April 5th in Belgium. He jumped over a ditch, brushed a tree and rammed himself along the roadside. These two were very lucky to only have these injuries because it could have been a lot worse. Despite that, their season is disrupted less than three months from the 2024 “Tour de France,” but this news was practically a relief.
The Slovenian, Primoz Roglic, the third star of this race who was wearing the team’s leader shirt, also gave up. He left in a car with a thumbs-up and fortunately, he only had bruises and scratches. In addition, Sean Quinn, Markel Beloki and Stef Cras were hurt too. Stef Cras has two perforated lungs.
Jay Vine, an Australian, was the victim who stayed the longest time immobile on the ground. “He suffered fractures to his cervical spine and two dorsal vertebrae,” said Dr. Adriano Rotunno the doctor of his team. He added: “Fortunately, there are no neurological complications or brain damage.” Therefore, he went to the hospital as well as the others. “Crashes are something you never want to see in cycling. Today, we unfortunately saw a very bad one. I wish a good recovery to my teammate Jay and to all my comrades in the peloton,” said the spectator Tadej Pogacar.
This accident happened 30 km from the end line of the fourth step. In the beginning, the peloton was supposed to be led to Echarri-Aranaz in Legutio. There was a downhill curve and some riders slid and collided on stone blocks and a concrete block. On the road, there were tree roots that made it dangerous and unusual. “The road was very bumpy there and we came in a bit too fast. There was nothing we could do, and I don’t think it was anyone’s fault”, said the Danish rider, Mattias Skjelmose.
Afterwards, this step was suspended, but still, six cyclists who succeeded in avoiding the fall continued the race while the peloton was blocked due to all those injuries. Finally, a South African, Louis Meintjes, won the race, but it didn’t count in the rank since the set of conditions and it didn’t especially feel like a real victory.
It remains to be wished that all injured cyclists will quickly recover.
