How is Jonas Vingegaard doing two weeks after his Tour de France crash? Dane provides recovery update

Jonas Vingegaard made his first public appearance since crashing out of the Tour de France on Thursday. The Danish Visma | Lease a Bike rider broke his collarbone on Stage 15 of the race. Two weeks later, he appeared at the start of Stage 2 of the Tour of Denmark in his hometown of Glyngøre.

Vingegaard was honoured there for winning the Giro d’Italia and completing his trilogy of Grand Tour victories. Another welcome detail was that Wout van Aert was wearing the Tour of Denmark leader’s jersey, having won the opening stage in Aalborg.

Vingegaard appeared on the podium before the stage and admitted that he would have liked to be racing himself. “I’m definitely looking forward to getting back on the bike,” he told TV2. “Especially here on home roads. It would have been fantastic to race today, but you can’t ride a bike race with one hand behind your back,” he joked, referring to his broken collarbone.

The Dane also explained how he is feeling two weeks after the crash. “It’s getting better. It really isn’t that bad anymore. I can use my arm again now. It’s not completely back to how it was before, but it will get there.”

Vingegaard has not ridden his bike since undergoing surgery. “A period without the bike was also very necessary. I needed some rest after the Tour. It has been a difficult year and a demanding bike race, so I was going to need a break anyway,” said the rider who had already competed in—and won—the Giro d’Italia earlier in the season.

“I still find it difficult to fully understand it and to place myself in that historic category,” Vingegaard said of completing his Grand Tour trilogy. “I’m still just Jonas, so perhaps that makes it a little difficult to comprehend.”