Visma | Lease a Bike riders and staff react to Vingegaard's Tour de France crash: 'Everything was going to plan'
CyclingSunday, 19 July 2026 at 20:21
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Follow us on GoogleFor Visma | Lease a Bike, Stage 15 of the Tour de France turned out to be a disastrous day. Team leader Jonas Vingegaard looked set to win the stage, but before he even reached the final climb, he found himself on the ground after a roundabout. The Dane had to be taken away by ambulance, spelling the end of his Tour de France.
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Vingegaard was 4.30 minutes behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates-XRG), but was in a healthy second place in the general classification. He wanted to give it one last shot with Visma | Lease a Bike in the third week. Stage 15 was also tackled head-on, in the hope that Vingegaard might be able to make a move on Pogi on the long and steep Plateau de Solaison.
However, a crash after exiting a roundabout put an end to all his hopes. Vingegaard was in a lot of pain and was treated on the ground by medical staff. Eventually, he was able to walk to the ambulance with a sling around his right shoulder before being taken to the medical truck at the finish line. There, an initial attempt was made to assess the extent of his injuries.
Continue reading below the video
Marc Reef responds after Jonas Vingegaard withdraws from the Tour de France
Naturally, team manager Marc Reef was devastated after the finish. “We went through a turn, and I didn’t really have a good view from the car. But when we came out of the turn, there he was. It’s a bummer that this happened and that he had to drop out,” said the Dutchman, shortly after the finish of the fifteenth stage.
"I said I felt for him. He was in pain at that moment, and it became clear pretty quickly that he couldn't continue," Reef added about the bizarre situation. "There isn't much you can say at a moment like that. We had a big goal today: to win the stage. Everything was going according to plan until the crash, and Jonas was feeling really, really good. We were ready to go for it."
Piganzoli and Jorgenson on Vingegaard’s crash
Davide Piganzoli was still in the group of favourites when Vingegaard crashed, and the Italian confirmed to Eurosport that Visma | Lease a Bike had a plan to win the stage. He blamed himself for the crash. ‘We probably didn’t take the bend properly, which is why we went down. We waited for a moment, but it was soon announced that Jonas was out of the race.’
‘It was a normal bend; I don’t know what happened. It was a nasty crash, but unfortunately that’s part of the game,’ Piganzoli told the NOS. Matteo Jorgenson also spoke to NOS: ‘This is terrible. We’re on stage 15 and we went all-in with Jonas. We believed in it and had no plan B. A motorbike took this side of the roundabout and Victor Campenaerts followed that line. We had to brake and that caused a domino effect.'
David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
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Latest Comments
- - Big shame for the race. Pogacar vs Vingegaard was shaping nicely and now it’s a bit anticlimatic. Heal up champ. Vamos Jonas!raceready720-07-2026
- - Zonneveld’s take is fair, but it feels a bit hindsight-y. He was glued to Pog on the Giro d’Italia descents earlier this year after the Basque crash, no? Maybe today was more bad luck and road furniture chaos than “decline.”breakawaybikerd20-07-2026
- - Can someone explain why being “nervous” on descents makes you lose wheels so fast? Is it just braking too much, or line choice and tyres as well?pedalpowe2920-07-2026
- - I remember that Hautacam moment vividly — the sportsmanship with Pog and the handshake. Hard to square that cool-headed descender with what we’ve seen this week. Confidence is everything downhill.velodromevirtuoso120-07-2026
- - Brutal news for Visma. Jonas out with a busted collarbone changes the whole GC picture. You could see the hesitancy on the wet corners yesterday — he was gapped every switchback.jeremya20-07-2026
- - Del Toro in white again! That move with Pogi and Remco was pure class. Ayuso paying for that early dig—rookie mistake today. Still time, but30 to the podium is a big hole.breakawaybikerd20-07-2026
- - Chapeau Seixas. Flat tyre at the wrong moment and still only 58s back—he’s 19 ffs. Home roads, parents at the line… goosebumps stuff. He’ll bounce back next week.gearguru3320-07-2026
- - How steep is Plateau de Solaison exactly? They kept saying “grueling” on TV—what’s the average gradient and length? Looked brutal when Remco and Del Toro kicked.pedalpowe2920-07-2026
- - Great piece, but slight confusion: Ayuso is with UAE, not Lidl-Trek, right? Thought Lidl-Trek’s Spanish leader is someone else. Anyway, tough day for him, he looked cooked with 2k to go.lindae20-07-2026
- - Massive win by Remco. Clinical on Solaison and cool as you like in the finale. Also fair play to Pogačar for pacing Del Toro—white jersey drama delivered.michael5420-07-2026
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