Next star with broken bone
Schachmann wins a big victory at the Tour of Pain
April 5, 2024, 6:02 p.m
The Tour of the Basque Country is not under a good star: just one day after a terrible mass fall, the next star has to give up with a broken bone. Meanwhile, German professional cyclist Maximilian Schachmann can hope for a big victory.
One day after the serious mass fall on the Tour of the Basque Country, German professional cyclist Maximilian Schachmann finished third and narrowly missed out on winning the day on the fifth stage. However, the 30-year-old from the Bora-Hansgrohe team still has a good chance of overall victory on Saturday as he is second in the overall standings. After the 175.9 kilometers, the Frenchman Romain Grégoire won in the photo finish ahead of the Ecuadorian Orluis Aular and Schachmann.
The only German winner of the Basque Country Tour is Andreas Klöden, who triumphed at the Itzulia in 2000 and 2011. Most recently in 2019, Schachmann’s teammate Emanuel Buchmann was third on the podium. Schachmann, a two-time winner of the Paris-Nice tour, had won three stages at the time.
Crashes occurred again on the penultimate stage of the current edition. The Spanish climbing specialist Mikel Landa, three-time stage winner at the Giro d’Italia, went down like three other professionals about 94 kilometers from the finish in Amorebieta-Etxano. According to his team, Landa suffered a broken collarbone and had to be taken to the hospital. There, “he will now undergo further tests to find the best path for his recovery,” as his team announced. The Belgian Gil Gelders, Landa’s teammate at Soudal Quick Step, was also one of the professionals who got caught. Gelders also had to give up the race.
In the overall standings, Schachmann is only two seconds behind the leading Dane Mattias Skjelmose. The tour ends on Saturday in Eibar. The hardest stage awaits the professionals with three climbs in the first category.
The cycling stars Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel and, among others, the Australian Jay Vine suffered serious injuries in the mass crash on the fourth stage of the tour on Thursday. The two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard suffered the worst: The Dane broke his collarbone and several ribs, and also suffered a bruised lung and a large wound on his back. Schachmann’s teammate Primoz Roglic was also involved in the accident the day before. The overall leader at the time had to retire, but got off lightly. The accident sparked a debate about excessive speeds in the field.