30 kilometers from the finish of the 4th stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, this April 4, a collective fall occurred in the peloton involving three of the future favorites of the Tour de France including Jonas Vingegaard.
This Thursday, April 4, a huge fall in the peloton brought down the main favorites for the next Tour de France 2024. In order, Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel and especially Jonas Vingegaard fell in a downhill right turn. The first suffered a second fall in two days, but the Slovenian seemed to be the best off. If he gave up, we could see him standing with his thumb raised after the fall without showing any obvious injury. For Remco Evenepoela clavicle fracture was confirmed in the hours after the fall.
For Jonas Vingegaard, the fall is even more spectacular and the concern was quite great. The outgoing double winner of the Tour de France remained lying for many minutes on the ground, motionless, with several ambulances around him. A neck brace was placed around the Dane’s neck and head, aided by oxygen. Its sports director, Frans Maassen confirmed on Eurosport just after the fall that the double winner of the Tour de France was conscious. The Dane suffers from a “broken collarbone” according to his team, Visma-Lease a bike. Examinations also revealed “several broken ribs”, but also a pneumothorax and pulmonary contusions. The cyclist remains under observation in hospital for the moment.
For several years, falls have been more and more spectacular for runners due to the ever-increasing speed due to the equipment which continues to evolve, notably with brakes not necessarily suitable in the event of serious danger… The roads , always more dangerous for professional runners, are also to be blamed, but also the attitude of runners during major races who always show nervousness. The deaths in recent months, notably that of Gino Mader during a descent on the Tour de Suisse, unfortunately echo this terrible fall.