Injury update: Jay Vine walking, Vingegaard and Evenepoel operated upon

Jay Vine is walking again following his crash at Itzulia Basque Country last week, expressing relief at having apparently avoided life-changing injuries.

The Australian faces a “long road” of recovery, but any thoughts of future career ambitions have ceded for now.

“Just can’t believe that I will still be able to walk and play with my kids one day,” Vine wrote in an emotional update on his social media.

Vine sustained three spinal fractures in the high-speed Basque Country crash that caused severe injuries to a number of other riders, including the Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, who remains hospitalised in Spain.

One fracture was in the upper cervical section of the spine and two others in the thoracic section, with doctors initially ruling out neurological complications and Vine now indicating a positive prognosis, all things considered.

“I’m tracking as well as can be expected, I have been able to walk around my room with the aid of a walker, and taking the first step was pretty emotional after what I've been through,” he said.

“It was pretty scary for a couple of days when we weren't sure if surgery or neurological problems might present themselves,” he added.

Vine is now waiting to be able to make the short transfer from the Basque Country to his adopted home in Andorra.

“Long road ahead for my recovery, but I am looking forward to getting the process rolling," he concluded.

As for Vingegaard, the winner of the past two editions of the Tour de France remains in hospital in Vitoria, with limited information on his condition.

The Dane suffered a broken collarbone, several broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a contusion to that lung.

On Tuesday, the Visma-Lease a Bike team stated that Vingegaard had undergone a “successful” collarbone operation. “He will now spend the next few weeks recovering. It is not yet clear how long this will take.”

Meanwhile, his father has made comments to the press complaining that he has not been able to visit his son and was struggling for information on his condition. Vingegaard is understood to be accompanied by his wife in the hospital, as well as team medical staff.

It is unclear whether the 27-year-old will be able to target a Tour de France triple. Team officials have indicated he will miss the altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada in May, a key building block towards the Tour.

Read more: Richard Plugge says it's 'too early' to think about Jonas Vingegaard and Tour de France

He can only return home when his lung recovers and he’s fit to fly, with several weeks needed for a full recovery for the broken bones. The Tour de France starts on 29 June.

Steff Cras was another rider who suffered a punctured lung in the same crash, but he was able to return home to Belgium on Monday, thanks to a long journey by car. The TotalEnergies rider also suffered spinal fractures in the same crash, and like Vine expressed relief that things were not worse.

“If I crashed 20cm further along, I would be dead,” he said in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.

Additional examinations in Belgium revealed more broken ribs than first feared. However, his broken vertebrae are stable and he remains set to make a swift recovery.

“The good news is that my participation in the Tour de France is not in jeopardy,” he said.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) is another rider shooting for the Tour de France, and his path towards July appears unaffected, although he has been forced to scrap plans for a third straight Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory later this month.

The time trial world champion broke his collarbone and shoulder blade in the crash, and was operated upon in Belgium on Sunday. “The surgery went without complication and the Belgian Champion has been discharged to recuperate,” read a statement from the team.

Along with Vingegaard and Evenepoel, the third yellow jersey hopeful to go down in the crash was Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe), who was able to walk away from the crash but abandoned the race while in the overall lead. He posted a photo earlier this week of his body covered in plasters and bandages, a sign of the road rash he accumulated through multiple crashes in the Basque Country.

He avoided any significant injuries and is already back on the bike, turning the pedals on his indoor trainer. Team boss Ralph Denk confirmed to GCN that Roglič will miss Amstel Gold Race this weekend but could still ride La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, even if he might not be at 100%.

His race programme could see minor adjustments but he still appears on track for the Tour de France.

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