Cycling: seriously injured during the Tour of the Basque Country, can stars Vingegaard and Evenepoel miss the Tour de France ?

Remco Evenepoel (left) and Jonas Vingegaard (right) were seriously injured during the Tour of the Basque Country. MAXPPP – Manuel Bruque

Seriously injured on Thursday at the Tour of the Basque Country, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel begin a race against time to be ready for the Tour de France. If their participation is not called into question, their preparation is already turned upside down.

If their participation is not called into question, their preparation is already turned upside down. In less than three months, on June 29, the Grande Boucle will set off from Florence for a highly anticipated 111th edition. It must be the "Fantastic Four" in the fight for the yellow jersey.

Three of the fantastic four down

Primoz Roglic, the least affected, suffers from superficial wounds after two successive falls in the Tour of the Basque Country this week and should be recovered in a few days.

Vingegaard and Evenepoel, on the other hand, suffer from multiple fractures. On the collarbone and sides for the Dane in addition to a pneumothorax and a pulmonary contusion. At the collarbone and scapula for the Belgian.

Only Tadej Pogacar, in training this week, is healthy. He sent his wishes for a good recovery to his "platoon comrades" on Thursday after the horrific crash in the Basque Country.

Pogacar arrived at the Tour de France just recovered last year

A year ago, the Slovenian himself tackled the Tour de France barely recovered from a broken wrist after a fall in Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the end of April. In trouble for two weeks, it then collapsed, partially due to a lack of land preparation.

What will happen for Vingegaard and Evenepoel ? "It's too early to say, we will have to wait days or even weeks before to say anything about the Tour", declared Friday Frans Maasen, the Dane's sporting director at Visma-Lease a bike.

Present with the rider, he was especially relieved that the double winner of the Tour had "had a very good night" . "Of course he's in pain but his legs and head are fine. We dare to look ahead", he added, believing that it could have been "much worse&quot ;.

Back in Dauphiné

Same story in the Evenepoel camp which returned to Belgium by car on Friday for new examinations at the Herentals hospital. “Given the circumstances, it's okay. His participation in the Tour is normally not in danger", reported his sports director in the Soudal-Quick Step team, Klaas Lodewyck. "Of course, my short-term plans will change, but I hope and believe that my long-term goals will not change", Evenepoel himself commented in a video Thursday evening to his fans.

What is certain is that the Fleming will have to draw a line under the Ardennes classics in mid-April. "He is disappointed. The Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège represented two major objectives for him", deplores Lodewyck. In both cases, the recovery time and getting back into shape is generally estimated between eight and ten weeks, knowing that this obviously varies greatly depending on the runner.

Vingegaard and Evenepoel could thus return in time for the Critérium du Dauphiné at the beginning of June, a week-long event which traditionally serves as a big dress rehearsal before the Tour and where Roglic is also expected this year .

But their preparation is already turned upside down and the consequences of the fall will only be known in their full dimension in the long term. We will also have to monitor how they will recover psychologically after having had a huge scare on Thursday.

"When we fall, there are physical wounds but there are also and above all mental scars (..) I don&# I'm not ashamed to say that after my last big crash at the Tour de France in 2016, the rest of my career was synonymous with apprehension and anxiety. , wrote former French runner Pierre Rolland on Friday on X.

A week ago, Julian Alaphilippe also confided that he had "much more apprehension than what he had done before. before" since his heavy fall against a tree in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2022. "It's a cruel sport, which requires a lot of sacrifices and where everything can collapse suddenly", he added.