The pictures are chilling. The last winner of the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard, was hospitalized after a serious fall that also involved several riders, including Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, during stage 4 of the Tour du Pays Basque on Thursday. All three men gave up.
According to television footage, the Dane was placed in a lateral safety position by emergency services and then evacuated on a stretcher with breathing support and a neck brace. Teams Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a bike) and Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) quickly announced their departure on their social networks. Both riders were taken to hospital.
A series of dramatic falls
Another runner, Australian Jay Vine, remained motionless on the ground for a very long time, being attended to by emergency services. His team also reported that he was taken to hospital.
Organizers neutralized the race for a while before restarting it. The accident happened in a downhill bend about thirty kilometers before the finish line. Several riders slid to the shoulder and hit stone blocks and a concrete drain. Roglic, who wears the leader’s yellow jersey, and Evenepoel got up after the accident, but Roglic drove away from the scene of the accident.
This autumn is the culmination of a series of dramatic accidents this spring in bicycle racing. Last Wednesday, Wout Van Aert was conspicuously caught in a mass crash at Across Flanders. The poly-traumatised Belgian champion suffered burns to his back and notably broken collarbones, ribs and sternum, ending his dream of winning the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.