Jonas Vingegaard, the current Tour de France champion, endured a harrowing crash during Thursday’s stage of the Itzulia Basque Country race, resulting in serious injuries including a collapsed lung.
The 27-year-old Danish cyclist suffered a broken collarbone and multiple rib fractures in a high-speed crash while descending during stage four of the race. Subsequent hospital examinations revealed additional complications, including bruising or bleeding of the lung tissue.
Vingegaard’s team, Visma-Lease a Bike, provided an update on Friday, confirming his stable condition and indicating that he had spent a satisfactory night in the hospital. However, he remains under medical observation.
The crash also forced other notable cyclists, including race leader Primoz Roglic and Grand Tour winner Remco Evenepoel, to abandon the race due to injuries sustained in the same incident. As a result, the remaining 35 kilometers of the stage were neutralized.
The unfortunate accident adds to the woes of Vingegaard’s team, as Wout van Aert, a key support rider for Vingegaard and a prominent stage winner at the Tour de France, had previously suffered a broken collarbone and ribs in a separate crash during the Dwars door Vlaanderen one-day race on March 27.