Tour de France champ Vingegaard back riding post-crash
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday completed his first outing on a bicycle a month after a horrific crash and insisted he was hopeful of bidding for a third straight Tour de France crown. "Of course I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France," the Danish Visma-Lease a Bike rider said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter. "We don't know exactly how my shape and recovery will go but I will do everything I can to get there," he added of the June 29 to July 21 race. The 27-year-old was hospitalised after suffering rib and collarbone fractures and sustaining lung damage in a mass crash on the Tour of the Basque Country on April 4. "This is the first time back on the bike for me, riding outside and it's really nice to be finally able to ride like normal again and finally to be able to ride on the road is really amazing," Vingegaard said. "I'm really looking forward to taking the next steps," he continued. "I feel good, it's improving day by day. I still have some things to recover from but it's going better and better." (Reuters)