Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: JASPER JACOBS / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP 17:28 p.m., April 24, 2023

Victim of a heavy fall during the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar gave reassuring news to his fans. Operated on his wrist following his fracture, the cyclist hopes to be recovered in time for the Tour de France which will begin in just over two months.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, victim of a fall Sunday during the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège, said Monday to have been "lucky" to suffer only a fractured wrist after the "crazy accident" that forced him to retire. "Well, sometimes it. I'm lucky it's just a broken wrist, considering the crazy accident that happened," explained the two-time winner of the Tour de France (2020, 2021) in a short text accompanying the broadcast on his Instagram account of photos showing him smiling with his left forearm completely plastered.

The cyclist, who suffered fractures to the left scaphoid and the semi-lunar bone of his left hand, underwent surgery on Sunday in Belgium. "I hope to see you all again very soon," he added, without elaborating on how long he would recover. He is also concerned about the health of the Dane Mikkel Honoré, who fell with him at high speed on Sunday after 85 km of racing and who "made a fall much harder than mine".

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"Our battle will wait"

The retirement of the 24-year-old Slovenian rider, who was aiming for a hat-trick in the Ardennes classics after winning the Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Wallonne, deprived the race of a long-awaited explanation with Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who won Sunday in Liège for the second year in a row. "Congratulations to Remco for the victory, our battle will wait until next time," concluded Tadej Pogacar.

This injury comes just over two months before the start of the Tour de France that Pogacar, sparkling since the beginning of the season, hopes to win back after finishing second behind Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard in 2022.