Jonas Vingegaard 'getting a little bit better every day', says Visma boss Richard Plugge, gives Wout van Aert update
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Updated 07/04/2024 at 12:49 GMT
Visma-Lease a Bike boss Richard Plugge has given an update on the respective conditions of Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert after they both suffered crashes in recent days. Plugge said Vingegaard's crash was "terrible for the image of cycling", and that he was "mad" that "things are dragging on" in terms of changes to help rider safety. Watch and stream Paris-Roubaix on Eurosport and discovery+.
Visma boss Plugge gives update on Vingegaard and Van Aert
Jonas Vingegaard is "getting a little bit better every day", says Visma-Lease a Bike boss Richard Plugge, who also gave an update on the condition of Wout van Aert after the Dutch team's pair of star riders both suffered recent crashes.
Vingegaard went down heavily last Thursday on Stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country, leaving the road on a stretcher. He was later diagnosed with a collapsed lung in a crash that also saw Remco Evenepoel suffer a broken collarbone and scapula.
Van Aert was involved in a crash at Dwars door Vlanderen on March 27 that saw him break his collarbone and "several ribs", and that subsequently put him out of action for the remainder of the Classics season.
Speaking at Paris-Roubaix, where Visma's hopes took a blow at the start with the withdrawal of Dylan van Baarle, Plugge shared the latest on two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard.
He said: "He's getting a little bit better every day of course, but we have to wait and see how he will recover in the coming, let's say, couple of days to really put something on it in terms of one week, two weeks, or whatever.
"Give him the room to improve his health as a person, that's the most important for us."
On rumours that Van Aert might be back in time for the Giro d'Italia where he is scheduled to compete, Plugge countered: "It's way too early to discuss this.
"He's a human being, he needs to recover from a big, big crash. He went down with incredible speed - so give him time."
Vingegaard and Van Aert will be front and centre of Visma's plans for this summer's Tour de France as the Dane goes for a third consecutive GC crown.
Plugge said however that he is yet to consider the impact on the make-up of his team for that event amid the injuries to the pair.
"We will think of plans but first we want to see how our riders' health will evolve," he said.
"You know our team, we will come up with a really good plan at the end of the day.
"But at the moment it's too early to say something about it."
Plugge, after seeing the impact of crashes on his team, also gave his view on how the sport needs to change, and praised the ASO organisation for having the "courage" to insert the much-discussed 'chicane' before the Arenberg Forest at this year's Paris-Roubaix.
He said: "Especially for the chicane, it takes a lot of courage for them [ASO] to change the route after 100 years in such a Monument. They do this for safety of the riders, so first of all big applause that they think of this and even do it.
"You can discuss for ages about this solution, but the most important to me is that they were courageous enough to do something. That's really good because it's a big signal towards the safety of the peloton and the riders.
"The broader perspective on that is that the organisation safer is ready to go. So why are we waiting? Let's go. I'm not saying that they would have prevented the crash on Thursday [involving Vingegaard] or whatever, but at least we have the beginning of a solution for us.
"It's really important, I think, that it will happen now because it was terrible for the image of cycling. Terrible for the people of course, for the young guys, the kids of parents, the wives of husbands who are lying there on the ground, and for themselves of course.
"But also for the business of cycling. We are professional teams, we pay a lot of money and the riders are professional, and the organisations are professionals. It's very terrible for the business of cycling."
Asked whether cycling needs to be more proactive instead of reactive in the wake of the numerous recent crashes, Plugge said: "100 per cent. We have had a couple of wake-up calls.
"I started the discussion together with David [Lappartient, UCI president], who is very much in favour of it. From Nice 2020 I think, together with ASO and Flanders Classics. They are all ready to go.
"Then it becomes politics, and then things start to go away with the politics. Start. It's business. And it's about human health. And that's why I'm also a bit mad that things are still dragging on."
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