"I thought I would drown in my own blood"; Vingegaard thought he was going to die after crash in Basque Country

Jonas Vingegaard's crash determined the former Tour winner's entire season. The 28-year-old Dane was involved in a terrible crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in April. With a broken collarbone, multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a pneumothorax, the damage was extensive. At DK Sports, Vingegaard talks about his experiences immediately after the crash.

It all happened in stage four of the Tour of the Basque Country. The peloton was on a descent, which was not very dangerous at first glance. "There was a tension in the peloton that perhaps shouldn't have been there," Vingegaard said regarding the fateful moment. "That's not every time something goes wrong, but this time it did. Then maybe it's your brain trying to protect you from a crash. But I didn't listen to that."

In a rather faint turn, things went wrong. The nervousness and speed played tricks on the Visma | Lease a Bike leader. "Because there was a battle for positions and due to the bad road, I couldn't brake. Then the front wheel slipped because I simply had too much speed." The Danish Tour winner crashed hard. Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic were also involved, but VIngegaard suffered the worst. "It was the first time I didn't try to get back on the bike."

He was lying on the ground in pain. "I couldn't breathe for the first 10 seconds. That's when I knew something was wrong. When I could finally breathe again, I was coughing up blood. So I knew it was bad." Thoughts immediately went to the worst-case scenario. "I thought I had internal bleeding. That means I will either drown in my own blood or die of a hemorrhage. So yeah... I thought the moment had come."

Read more below the photo!

Vingegaard was transported to the hospital, heavily injured after his crash.

Wife Trine hoped Jonas had no brain damage: "Anything else we could survive"

"When I was on the ground, I thought that if I survived this, I would end my career," says an emotional Vingegaard. "But later, we discussed that much, and we both felt I should continue. Because it's still my passion." His wife Trine saw the accident happen on TV. Even before she had contact with the team, she was on her way to the airport. "I was glad he was still alive, and I especially hoped he didn't have brain damage. Anything else we could survive."

Trine arrived that same day, late at night, at the Spanish hospital where her husband was in intensive care. When the couple saw each other, the battered Vingegaard immediately began to cry. He thought what his wife was witnessing was terrible. "After all, Trine was pregnant. I found it very difficult to cope with that. Especially the idea that she would have to live without me." Twelve days later, Vingegaard could leave the hospital, and just over two months later, he was riding the Tour de France.

The crazy year forced the Danish climber to drop the World Championships in Zurich, but he hopes to travel to Rwanda this year. "We hope I can compete in the World Championships next year." The Danish federation was not happy with the last-minute cancellation of their leader. "When you have had an accident like me, the team is the priority," he explained. "I would ride for the national team if I had anything left. But it just wasn't there. I was just exhausted. I would have loved to compete in the World Championships."

Read also

Steven de Jongh doesn't want anything to do with UCI's anti-earpiece plans: "Earpieces have already saved lives"

17-year-old Muys spent two kilometers clinging to Pogacar’s wheel during record attempt: "His team directors gave me pat on the back"

Not Roglic or Van Aert, but Visma | Lease a Bike itself was the reason Tratnik left: "I started to get bored"

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get every week the latest news about CYCLING in your inbox!

Subscribe