Steff Cras opens up about his horrific crash at Basque Country
There were some scary moments for the Belgian after one of the worst accidents of the spring
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@Petitcycliste
This spring has been full of some incredible races–but also marked by some horrible crashes. Wout van Aert saw his Classics season cut short by a brutal wipeout at Dwars door Vlaanderen. The Belgian cyclist suffered a severe crash leading up to the Tour of Flanders on March 27. This incident also impacted other contenders, including Jasper Stuyven and Biniam Girmay.
Then there was the frightening crash at the Tour of the Basque Country that saw Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Steff Cras hit the deck hard. The defending Tour de France champion was the worst off. He fractured his collarbone and ribs in the accident, and further tests revealed the Dane also suffered a pneumothorax and pulmonary contusion. Evenepoel broke his collarbone.
The damage
Cras was diagnosed with a perforated lung, a broken rib, and eight fractured transverse processes–that’s the small pieces of bone on vertebrae that stick out. Cras recently opened up to Sporza about the crash, and his difficult recovery.
Unable to sleep properly for weeks
For three weeks after the crash, he couldn’t sleep in a bed. Instead, he would sleep in a chair. However, things are slowly getting better for Cras–he’s even been able to ride indoors. “It’s been much better since I returned from Spain. I can do everything by myself again, and since last week, I’ve been able to ride on the rollers. However, outdoor training is still not an option for him.”
The Belgian crashed hard, landing in the gutter just beside the road. Cras jokes that as he sat there, “It was as if I was in a bathtub.” What’s not funny is just how close he was to even worse injuries. “If I had flown into the concrete block nearby, I might not be sitting here now.”
Unable to breathe
He also says that when he first hit the ground, it was very scary because of his collapsed lung. “For the first thirty seconds, I couldn’t breathe and felt like I was suffocating,” he shares.
L’actu vélo via RMC Sport / Impliqué dans la violente chute de plusieurs coureurs lors de la 4e étape du Tour du Pays basque, jeudi, le Belge Steff Cras a estimé être passé tout près de la mort. https://t.co/Vc8Rp2Asby pic.twitter.com/fAJ402SBBP
— Petit-cycliste.com (@Petitcycliste) April 22, 2024
“I thought it was over. But after about half a minute or so, the lung opened up a bit, and I managed to get just enough air to breathe.” Many have wondered about the cause of the crash, and if it could have been avoided. “I think it was a combination of the bad road surface and the very high speed. In any case, the descent was poorly marked,” the TotalEnergies rider says. “They could easily have covered that concrete gutter with something. In fact, nothing was indicated, and there was nothing in the communiqué the day before.”
The ever-changing nature of descents
The race is different than in the past. In the past, the Basque Country stages posed significant challenges, leading to smaller groups naturally forming in descents with less competition for position, he explains. Nowadays, the approach is often less demanding, resulting in sprints to secure the leading position before descending. Cras highlights riders’ accountability and the use of excessively high gears.
The danger with high speeds
He recalls instances, like on the Tourmalet descent, where speeds approached 100 km/h, and some riders were still pedaling. This disparity in gear usage occasionally left him struggling to keep up, suggesting a need for action to address the issue. Cras anticipates his participation in the Tour de France, contingent on his recovery progress. If he can resume outdoor cycling soon, he expects to reach some decent fitness; otherwise, it may be slightly compromised. He draws parallels to the Dauphiné, where a previous fall led to injuries, yet he managed to start the Tour despite the setback.
2025?
“After a good winter, I had set my sights on the Basque Country and especially the Ardennes classics. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out, so now I hope my breakthrough will come in the Tour,” he said. Regarding his team’s sentiment, he is hopeful that he can turn it around and remain with TotalEnergies. His contract expires at the end of 2024.
