Cycling: Vingegaard's medical assessment more serious than expected with affected lungs

The Dane Jonas Vingegaard, victim of an impressive fall Thursday at the Tour of the Basque Country, suffers from a pneumothorax and a pulmonary contusion in addition to fractures to the clavicle and ribs already diagnosed, his team announced Friday.

“Further examination at the hospital revealed that he also suffered from pulmonary contusion and pneumothorax. His condition is stable and he had a good night's sleep. He remains in the hospital,” indicated the Visma-Lease a bike training on the social network X.

Thursday after his fall, the 27-year-old double winner of the Tour de France spent long minutes in a lateral safety position on the side of the road. He was wearing a neck brace and a respiratory support system when he was put into the ambulance on a stretcher.

Also read: Tour of the Basque Country: in video, the spectacular fall of Evenepoel, Roglic and Vingegaard

Pulmonary contusion is an injury to the lungs, without perforation, which occurs during serious trauma to the thorax. It can result in shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chest pain, cough with expectoration of blood, according to the definition in Vidal, a dictionary for medical use.

As for pneumothorax, it is characterized by an abnormal accumulation of air in the pleura, which can cause respiratory failure.

Eight runners were injured in this fall. Besides Vingegaard, the other major victim is the Belgian Remco Evenepoel who suffers from a fracture to his collarbone and right shoulder blade.

These two riders have made the Tour de France the main objective of their season. The Grande Boucle begins in three months.

This fall comes on top of a series of dramatic crashes this spring in cycling races. Last Wednesday, Wout Van Aert was notably caught in a collective fall in Across Flanders.

Polytraumatized, the Belgian champion suffered burns to his back and especially fractures to his collarbone, ribs and sternum, signaling the end of his dream of winning the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.

On Wednesday, Roglic and Ayuso had already been caught in a relatively violent fall in the Tour of the Basque Country, but they returned to the race.