Jonas Vingegaard has revealed that he suffered a concussion in the crash which forced him out of Paris-Nice earlier this month.
The Dane crashed hard during stage 4 of the week-long stage race while wearing the leader's jersey. He continued to the hilltop finish, ceding the overall lead to Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson, but left the race overnight ahead of the fifth stage.
Having suffered dizziness, a hand contusion, and facial pain following the fall, Vingegaard was also ruled out of this week's Volta a Catalunya. Speaking to B.T., he said that he suffered a concussion which affected him for several days afterwards.
"After the crash I was dizzy, and after the stage, I got very nauseous and was incredibly tired, which continued for the next several days," Vingegaard said.
"I'm happy to be back on the bike, even though it took a little longer than hoped due to my concussion, which required a lot of rest."
Jorgenson went on to defend the race lead to Nice, taking his second win at the Race to the Sun, though Vingegaard felt he could've taken the win, but for his fall.
"I'm incredibly disappointed to be out because I actually felt like I could have kept the leader's jersey all the way to Nice," he said.
"The fact that it also means that I have to miss Catalunya is even more disappointing, as I had been looking forward to the race."
Vingegaard's directeur sportif at Visma, Frans Maassen, said that the two-time Tour de France winner "lost nine days of training" due to the crash and called it a "big relief" that he managed to avoid breaking his hand.
With no Catalunya on the schedule, Vingegaard's next planned race is now nearly three months away, at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Speaking to Feltet, Maassen said that Vingegaard had "some options" about his lead-in to the Tour de France, but he wasn't giving anything away about any possible schedule tweaks.
"I'm not going to say anything about what he'll be racing," he said. "We had a good chat with Jonas on Friday, where we gave him some options.
"We didn't want to make an immediate decision after the crash, even though we could have, but we think it's better for everyone to think twice. We will make a final decision in the next few weeks."
One option for Vingegaard is simply forgoing any additional racing altogether, only training at altitude before the Dauphiné. "That plan is also a possibility," Maassen said.
"For now, we have a clear plan, but we still have to wait and see. The coaches need to think about it and Jonas needs to think about it. He also needs to talk to his family about it."
