Bora-hansgrohe have said that Primoz Roglič has been lucky enough to escape Thursday's mass crash in Itzulia Basque Country without any fractures after the race leader was one of several riders to fall and abandon.
The Slovenian was seen limping away from the scene as those more seriously injured received further medical attention and gave a thumbs up and wave to the camera as he was taken away from the race in a team car.
“Examinations undertaken at the hospital have shown that Primož Roglič has not sustained any fractures as a result of his fall on today's stage of Itzulia Basque Country,” read a social media post from Bora-Hansgrohe. “We also wish all the other riders involved in the crash well.”
“Fortunately, all the medical checks of Primoz didn't show any big issues so he is fine, he is feeling okay,” said sports Director Patxi Vila in an update on Bora’s social media on Friday morning.
“He will heal hopefully soon. He just will fly back home this afternoon and for what it could be, I think we have to be more than happy.”
Roglič stayed motionless for a while in the concrete ditch after the crash, just a few metres away from defending Itzulia champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) who lay still while his teammates and doctors attended to him.
The Dane was more seriously injured and after being loaded into an ambulance on oxygen, an update from the team last night revealed that he was conscious but that “examinations at the hospital have revealed that he has a broken collarbone and several broken ribs”.
Another update this morning from the Dutch team stated that “further examination in the hospital revealed that he [Vingegaard] also suffered a pulmonary contusion and pneumothorax [collapsed lung]” but that he remains stable and will stay in the hospital.
Roglič was leading the race from Remco Evenpoel (Soudal-QuickStep) after winning the stage 1 time trial but had to abandon and relinquish the leader’s jersey after his second hard crash of the race.
Evenpoel similarly abandoned but was worse affected by the crash, suffering a broken collarbone and scapula. He did avoid real disaster, however, as he skillfully bunny-hopped the concrete ditch on the side of the road before crashing hard on the grass.
Also significantly affected by the horrific incident were Sean Quinn with a concussion and sternum fracture, Natnael Tesfatsion who had numerous contusions and abrasions on his right side, Jay Vine who suffered several fractures in his spine but thankfully avoided neurological involvement and Stef Cras with a reported right pneumothorax, several associated rib fractures and two dorsal vertebral fractures.
Evenepoel is travelling back to Belgium where he will have surgery in Herentals. His race programme has been significantly affected with the Ardennes Classics and a defence of his Liège-Bastogne-Liège title now ruled out.
But he remained positive in a video update released by his team that his long-term goals - the Tour de France and Paris Olympics - would not be overly affected.
Roglič, Vingegaard and Evenepoel are three of the four big favourites expected to fight out the victory at this year’s Tour de France, with each on a different team.
Vingegaard’s next scheduled race is the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, but his scheduled return is unknown with updates still coming out of Visma while he is in hospital.
Roglič escaping without serious injury means he could be back on the bike very soon with starts at La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège expected. However, the team provided no update yet on his programme and yesterday's crash would have only compounded the grazes and bruises he already sustained on stage 3.
The other member of the four pre-Tour favourites, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) was one of the many riders who offered up their support after the dreadful crash that saw his friends, compatriots and teammate Vine go down.
“Crashes are never something we want to see in cycling. Sadly today we saw a really nasty one,” Pogačar said on his social media.
“Wishing my teammate Jay and all my comrades in the peloton a speedy recovery after their tough fall today”
