Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard has raised hopes of a remarkable return at next month’s Tour de France after riding outside for the first time just 31 days after a horror crash in Spain.
Vingegaard broke his collarbone and ribs and suffered a collapsed lung during a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, which forced the Dane to spend a fortnight in hospital.
However, the 27-year-old insisted he has not given up hope of making it to the Tour’s Grand Depart on June 29 in Florence and made the latest encouraging step in his recovery as he rode outside for the first time since his crash.
“This is the first time back on the bike for me riding outside and it’s really nice to finally be able to ride like normal again and finally to be able to ride on the road is really amazing. I’m really looking forward to taking the next steps too,” Vingegaard said in a video released by his team, Visma-Lease a Bike.
“I feel good, it’s improving day by day. I still have some things to recover from but it’s going better and better. Of course, I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France.
“We don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”
Providing he is fit, the two-time defending champion will resume his mouth-watering rivalry with Tadej Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021. The Slovenian, who rides for UAE-Team Emirates, currently holds a lead over Britain’s Geraint Thomas in the Giro d’Italia and will hope to become the first rider since the legendary Marco Panatani in 1998 to win both Grand Tours in the same year.
The crash that injured Vingagard in northern Spain also sidelined highly-rated Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel, although the Soudal-QuickStep has already returned to training as he gears up for his first Tour.
Vingagard’s teammate, Wout van Aert, meanwhile, is another big name hoping to recover in time for the Grand Depart. The 29-year-old crashed during March’s Tour of Flanders but has also returned to riding outdoors as he prepares for a big summer that will see him compete in the Tour before turning his full focus to the Paris Olympics.
