Sawt Falasteen - Vingegaard says back to his best after Japan win

The Dane was a two-time defending Tour de France champion when a high-speed fall in the Tour of the Basque Country in April last year left him hospitalised with a punctured lung and several broken bones.

The accident shook him mentally and physically but he began to pick up the pieces this year.

The 28-year-old finished as runner-up at the Tour de France before claiming a third career Grand Tour win at the Vuelta a Espana in September.

Vingegaard finished his season with another victory in Saitama, and said his return to the top had taken "a bit longer than I thought it would".

"You never really know when you have a bad crash like that if you will get back to the same level you had before," he said.

"It's only by the end of this year that I can see that I'm able to push in the same way that I was before my crash."

Vingegaard missed last year's Paris Olympics and finished far behind his rival Tadej Pogacar in the Tour de France in the months following his crash.

He said he hoped he has put the accident behind him as he looks towards next season.

"It's taken me quite a long time before coming back to the same level," he said.

"Slowly you come back to it and hopefully now I can get back to improving rather than trying to get back to the same level."

- Back on the bike -

Vingegaard kicked for home on the final lap to win the Saitama Criterium ahead of Italy's Jonathan Milan and Australian Kaden Groves.

He had to do it the hard way after crashing three-quarters of the way through the 60km course, before getting back on his bike and resuming the race.

"Luckily I didn't hurt myself and I just slipped," said Vingegaard, who was helped back onto his bike by Davide Stella of the UAE team.

"I just lost the wheel and luckily nothing happened and then I could come back and win."

Vingegaard was side by side with Slovenia's Primoz Roglic before making his final attack on the last lap of the circuit.

The Dane said his fall disrupted his race plan but he was able to think on his feet and stay in contention.

"At first you only think about getting back to the bunch," he said.

"Then there was an attack that I could follow, and then luckily I could go solo from there."

H.Darwish--SF-PST