Jumbo-Visma have confirmed that sprinter Dylan Groenewegen will not race for the remainder of the 2020 road season. According to NOS.nl, directeur sportif Arthur van Dongen confirmed at the BinckBank Tour in Blankenberge on Monday that Groenewegen is still awaiting a decision of the UCI Disciplinary Committee for sparking the crash that grievously injured Deceuninck-Quickstep's Fabio Jakobsen at the Tour de Pologne.
Following the crash on August 5, Jakobsen was placed into a medically-induced coma and underwent five hours of surgery during which he received over 130 stitches to repair his jaw and palate. He lost all but one tooth. Jakobsen was able to return home to the Netherlands one week after the crash but is still recovering from his injuries.
Last week the former Dutch champion sent a thank you note to teammate Florian Sénéchal - a bottle of wine and some flowers with the note "thank you for saving my life".
Sénéchal was the first to arrive on the scene after Jakobsen crashed. Jakobsen had been sprinting along the barriers in the fast, downhill sprint on the opening stage in Poland, attempting to pass Groenewegen and take the first leader's jersey. But Groenewegen deviated from his line and closed the door on Jakobsen, who fell into the course-side barriers. The barriers broke apart upon impact, hitting Jakobsen in the face.
Sénéchal thanked Jakobsen for the gift on Twitter, writing, "Thank you Fabio for this gift after my visit with you today. I came on you first after your accident. I'm just lifting your head up so you can breathe. You will come back even stronger my friend."
Groenewegen also crashed after the finish line because of the impact, fracturing his collarbone. But the Dutch rider was devastated that he had caused a colleague such injury and because he received numerous threats including promises of legal action from Quickstep manager Patrick Lefevere.
He gave an emotional interview to NOS in the week after the crash, taking responsibility for the crash, and saying, "Even thinking about sprinting is something that is very far away now. I don't even want to think about riding my bike in the upcoming months. We'll see what's next. I do hope Fabio makes a full recovery and we can have sprints against each other in the future."
