The medical report of all those who fell in the damned curve of the fourth stage of Itzulia is shocking. Vine (UAE) suffered a fracture of one cervical vertebra and two in the thoracic spine. Cras (Total Energies) has a pneumothorax in the right lung, fracture of several ribs and fracture of two vertebrae. Quinn (EF) suffered a concussion as well as a fractured sternum. Evenepoel (Soudal) will have to have surgery on his right clavicle. Roglic (Bora) only has abrasions. And Jonas Vingegaard yesterday underwent new tests at the Txagorritxu hospital in Vitoria that revealed that, in addition to the collarbone and two broken ribs, the Dane also has a pneumothorax and a lung contusion.
That is to say, the prognosis is more serious than was thought after the first statement from the Visma team. A little after the update on the health status of its great leader was known, the Dutch team decided that Matteo Jorgenson, recent winner of Paris-Nice, would not participate in the classic Paris-Roubaix tomorrow. The American, signed from Movistar, could be one of the team's assets in case the winner of the last two editions does not arrive at the Tour in good condition.
In the peloton there was a certain discomfort due to the lack of marking of the curve where the big favorites fell. “It was the most dangerous of the Olaeta descent,” the cyclists agreed. “The point looked very bad,” said Pello Bilbao, a Basque from Bahrain. “The asphalt had potholes due to the roots,” confirmed Ion Izagirre, from Cofidis.
In this context, Safe Cycling appeared, a company that acts as a mediator between cyclists and race organizers on issues of signaling dangerous points and safety. Its founder, Markus Laerum, revealed that Jonas Vingegaard himself had expressed his concern about this decline. “It was very frustrating to see it happen. Especially since Vingegaard had already warned us about this specific race and descent in January,” he discovered in the Belgian outlet Sporza. “We never received a response from them,” he lamented the lack of communication from Itzulia.
Another reflection that is made is that perhaps the directors, due to the earpieces, create too much tension for the cyclists by asking them to get off in front, attentive and fast. That pressure – it was Landa, Evenepoel's teammate from Alava, who knew the terrain, who outlined and commanded the peloton – would have caused the curve to be taken too quickly. “We are the cyclists who create the danger. It is clear that all the leaders and their colleagues do not enter (the first places). “Then we will have to rethink the way we compete a little,” Bilbao asked, to distribute responsibilities.
