BRUSSELS –
Two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar said Monday he was lucky to escape from his weekend crash at Liege–Bastogne–Liege with only a broken left wrist and he will start his recovery hoping to be ready for cycling’s biggest race this year.
A day after his team said he underwent “successful” surgery in Belgium, Pogacar tried to focus on the bright side in a message posted on his social networks, considering the “crazy crash that happened.”
The accident Sunday during cycling’s oldest classic was not captured on TV, but Pogacar’s sports director with the UAE Team Emirates said after the race it happened at very high speed.
Mauro Gianetti said Pogacar hit the road after Mikkel Honore had a double puncture just in front of him.
“It was in a slight descent, and very fast and very high speed, and he could not avoid the crash,” Gianetti said at the finish.
In his message, Pogacar wished the best recovery to Honore, “who went down way harder than me.”
Pogacar, who lives in Monaco, was expected to travel home on Monday, according to his team. UAE Team Emirates said that surgery to treat a scaphoid fracture in his left wrist went well and that the 24-year-old Slovenian rider would now start “recovery and rehabilitation.”
Pogacar was treated by a hand surgeon at a hospital in Genk immediately after his crash.
The UAE Team Emirates did not say how long he would be sidelined and if the injury would affect his preparations for the Tour de France, which starts in July.
“It’s too early to say now,” Gianetti said. “Fingers crossed it will be all OK and he will be able to recover very fast.”
Following his wins at Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallonne, Pogacar aimed to become only the third male rider to seal a hat trick of the Ardennes classics but had to abandon after 85 kilometers (53 miles). The race was won by world champion Remco Evenepoel, who put on an impressive attacking display to win cycling’s oldest classic for the second year in a row with a solo effort.
Before his accident, Pogacar had been untouchable on all grounds this year, also dominating the field at the Tour of Flanders.
His maiden win at the Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday marked his sixth race victory of 2023 — to go with six stage wins at the weeklong Paris-Nice and Tour of Andalucia races — a streak that is drawing comparisons with cycling great Eddy Merckx.
Pogacar had planned to stop racing after Liege–Bastogne–Liege to recover and was not scheduled to compete at the Giro d’Italia starting May 6. His next big goal is the Tour, where he will try to restart his dominance after being dethroned last year by Jonas Vingegaard.
The Tour starts on July 1 in the Spanish city of Bilbao.
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