Visma-Lease A Bike administration have stated that their riders Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson, who got here down in the identical crash on stage 2 of the Tour de France, are each largely unscathed by their fall and are able to proceed racing.
Jorgenson himself stated after the stage that he was stunned that he didn’t damage himself extra badly, given the pace that each riders got here down, with the worst injury some minor street rash. Van Aert himself had a scrape on his proper facet, however nothing extra severe.
The American additional proved there was no main injury by first working for crew chief Jonas Vingegaard on the ultimate climb of the day, the notoriously robust San Luca, after which ending with the principle group of favourites, 21 seconds down.
Celebrating his twenty fifth birthday on July 1, Jorgenson is at present mendacity 14th total behind yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
“They are okay,” sports activities director Grischa Niermann stated about Van Aert and Jorgenson earlier than the beginning of stage 3, a 230.9 kilometre trek between Piacenza and Turin, earlier than including jokingly, “Matteo gave himself a pleasant birthday current as a result of he hit a pothole and went down.”
In a really flat stage that appears all however sure to finish in a bunch dash, Van Aert will “probably strive for it, however we’ll see through the stage. It shall be a protracted, lengthy day within the saddle.”
Van Aert himself confirmed that he would seemingly have a go within the bunch dash, telling reporters earlier than stage 3, “That is the intention. I hope I really feel good on the bike. It has been a troublesome weekend and I all the time have a greater likelihood due to the fatigue of the sprinters.”
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Asked after stage 2 concerning the crash, Jorgenson already stated “I surprisingly really feel fairly okay, after I went down I used to be going tremendous quick so I anticipated to be rather more damage. But I obtained up and one way or the other I simply misplaced pores and skin, principally.”
“It was a fairly silly crash, I’ve seen it occur one million instances with different riders, I had one hand on the bars and the opposite on a feed bag, I used to be getting a bottle and the 2 riders forward of me simply break up round an enormous gap.”
“ I hit the outlet, my left hand slipped off the bars, the remainder is historical past, it’s simply one thing unlucky that occurred. It had by no means occurred to me earlier than however now it has.”
Jorgenson was capable of see how his crew chief Vingegaard arguably had one of the best day of all of the GC favourites – not taking the yellow jersey like Tadej Pogačar, however exhibiting he is ready to go toe to toe with the Slovenian, not less than on the shorter, steeper climbs.
It was actually spectacular, Jonas was superimpressive, I used to be actually blissful, I’m pleased with him. It was one of many levels that suited that him the worst of the Tour, in comparison with Pogačar, and he defended himself so nicely. Today was an enormous victory.”
Overall, Jorgenson stated, the opening weekend of the 2024 Tour de France had proven a number of constructive indicators for Vingegaard, again racing after a protracted spell of restoration following his main crash in Itzulia Basque Country.
“[I’ve seen] Nothing however power and confidence, and in addition the best way he’s descending and dealing with himself within the bunch, it’s spectacular to see.”
“I’ve seen different riders have crashes like he did, and it’s taken them years to come back again to the identical degree of confidence. Jonas is already again, it appears, so I’m simply pleased with him.”
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