The fall nearly ended his career. But Valgren did not give up. And it comes alive at the Giro

It was the year 2022, when I stopped cycling. At the watershed of La Route dOccitanie, in an attempt to reach the niche, he took a risk and swam. He didn’t manage the descent, hit the guardrails and ended up flying ten meters below the road.

The 20-year-old rider of the Education Easy-Post immediately knew it was bad. He broke his femur, dislocated his knee, tore ligaments in his knee and tore his meniscus.

He underwent an operation in Nice, and when the doctor asked when he would be able to move, they answered: When? The question is whether it will even be possible.

As if at that moment two feet were thrust into me at once. Such was the morning, he remembered somewhere in Amstel and Omloop.

On the one hand, he was of course sorry for the harshness of the diagnosis, but also the fact that he was competing in the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in his native Denmark. He first spoke of it as quite the peak of his career. He wanted so much to present himself in the arms of the world’s most famous cycling race in the cities where he grew up.

Instead of being seduced, he just lay on the lake and didn’t know what he was going to do.

I spent two weeks in the hospital, then I was able to go home, he described. At first, my condition worsened quite quickly and I was given a prognosis that I would be able to ride a bike in a few months. I said to myself: Time, this season is over, but I’m getting ready for the next one.

But how did he pray? Months passed and getting back in the saddle was still a long way off. Although Kyel was in a shoe, his knee was constantly hurting him. He could not painlessly bend it so that he could fully pedal.

Even at the end of the year, six months after the fall, the knee was still not 100%, it hurt. I admit, I cried. I said: No, perhaps not, I am not always ready to die in such a way. I want to die, and I laugh, I don’t want to, but not because of this pain, he said.

So he got busy. Don’t give up, you thought.

He underwent a second operation and struggled to make a comeback. His beginning in 2023 looked like this, he got up early, put on a special device for an hour and a half, which helped him glue the range of the knee bend, then fell in love with you and went to the physiotherapist for hours, had lunch, then went to rehab.

When, after a few weeks, he could sit on the trainer for at least half an hour pain-free, he really remembered it.

Nco like vtzstv, lil. I may have rushed it a bit, but I couldn’t make it out. From the week when I spent 25 to 30 hours on my bike, for several months I was not even on it for an hour.

In the wild, he was able to wiggle into a real thorn and in April, for the first time since the accident, he was seducing. So it was not about returning to the elite, they agreed with the team that they would not rehabilitate him and he would spend the whole season as a development team only. And if he succeeds, he will enter the World Tour again this year.

I knew it was possible, said Charles Wegelius, EF sports editor. The reason was that when he got to the point where he had to decide whether to fight or die, he decided on the first option. He confirmed how the character is. In my opinion, this was much more important than all the consequences of convalescence and thorns.

Valgren moved to the highest levels of cycling this January on the Panglik unicorn slopes. Then he left the big classics like Omloop, E3, Nap Flandry, where there were even eight, the monumental Miln-San Remo and Kolem Flander. He completed the Tour of the Algarve, Pa-Nice and Tour of Romandie from the stages, which was his general at the Giro.

I respect the time. Our goal will be to run on one of the stages, he said a few days ago at the start of the Italian Grand Tour.

What he actually confirmed.

The five-hundred-fifth stage was supposed to be the day when the sprinters in the mass finish would give it to each other. Even at first it looked like that, and in the middle of the track, the crowd was together.

Jene Valgren, together with Thomas, Andrea Pietrbon from Polti Cometa and Enzo Paleni from Groupama, all caught up in the 77 kilometer long climb.

I lived in Lucca for a year when I started my career in the dark of Saxo. I knew the beast for a long time, as well as the last climb of Montemagno. When you’re on almost domestic roads, it’s about ten percent more power, right? Dn smiled. I honored the song so much. We also worked together for a while.

And didn’t he finally look up to Thomas, a medalist from the World Championships and the Olympic Games, in the sprint?

Years ago, I didn’t even know if I would continue. But that helped me, I didn’t give up. I’m glad I can fill it out. Just remember that I am a cyclist. Thank you very much, I understood.

Such a return is a dream come true for him.