Voigt plans to ride Tour again in 2010

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Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) is already planning to ride the 2010 Tour de France. “This would be a bad way to stop,” he said from his hospital bed in Grenoble. The German suffered a fractured right cheekbone and a severe concussion in a crash in the 16th stage of the Tour on Tuesday.

He told the German news agency dpa that he felt quite good and hopes to fly home to Berlin on Friday. Voight said he will remain in hospital until then, “because they want to scan my head again. There was a small blood clot as a result of the concussion.”

The 37-year-old doesn't have any recollection of the crash itself. “I was thinking on the descent that it was going very well for me, that I could still work a bit for the Schleck brothers – and then I woke up on the stretcher in the ambulance.”

Voigt got a vote of confidence from his boss, team manager Bjarne Riis, who offered not only to extend his contract but also to employee him after he ends his riding career. “Of course we will consider him for the next Tour,” Riis said. “Jens is good not just on the bike. I would like to continue to work with him.”