Jonas Vingegaard, after the shock crash at the Tour of the Basque Country, remains in hospital. The further tests to which the Danish runner was subjected also highlighted a pneumothorax and a pulmonary contusion, in addition to the fractures of the clavicle and ribs already diagnosed yesterday. "Further examination revealed that he also suffers from a pulmonary contusion and pneumothorax - the doctors' bulletin -. His condition is stable and he rested well at night. He remains in hospital."
Yesterday, after his fall, the 27-year-old two-time winner was secured, lying on his side at the side of the road and wearing a neck brace, before being loaded into the ambulance on a stretcher. Pulmonary contusion is an injury without perforation of the lungs, which occurs following severe trauma to the chest. Eight riders were involved in the huge fall: in addition to Vingegaard, the other to have suffered the most damage (fractured collarbone and right shoulder blade) was the Belgian Remco Evenepoel. For the two champions the main objective of the season is the Tour and three months before the start the Grande Boucle is now at risk.
Dagnoni: "For safety you need common sense and rules"
"I am very sorry for the accidents that have occurred in recent days but you cannot simply point the finger at someone or something. Technology has made it possible to have better performing bicycles, which however reduce the margins of error, while the organizers are very attentive to safety "Finding a simple solution is difficult but the issue requires attention. Certainly, common sense and regulations must always come first." Thus the president of the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI),
Cordiano Dagnoni
, on the phone with ANSA, comments on the falls that have occurred in various professional races in recent days.
"Today's bikes have disc brakes which allow you to brake at the last moment but more abruptly, the rigid carbon frames make it more difficult to turn - explains Dagnoni -, but the producers certainly cannot be criminalised. As for the organisers, over the years, attention to safety has become central, even if in our sport there is always a margin of risk, and not a small one. If we look at recent falls involving champions, at the 'Through Flanders' Wout van Aert touched someone else's wheel on a straight line, causing a general fall. Yesterday, in the Basque Country, the bad luck was that the fall occurred near a drainage ditch. But you certainly can't cordon off tens of kilometers of track."
Dagnoni then also expresses doubts regarding certain "tricks", such as the one announced for next Sunday's Roubaix, the inclusion of a chicane at the entrance to the cobbled sector of the Arenberg Forest. "It may be useful - he states - but it also takes away the charm of the race a bit. Of course, you must always rely on common sense and the rules".
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