Visma's Affini suddenly leaves the Tour de France after Alpe d'Huez stage

Calm had already returned some time ago during Stage 19 of the Tour de France when, halfway through the stage, we suddenly saw footage of Edoardo Affini withdrawing from the race. We hadn’t seen the Italian rider from Visma | Lease a Bike on screen at all, so it remained to be seen exactly what was going on there.

With 162 riders, the nineteenth stage to Alpe d'Huez got underway on Friday. Visma | Lease a Bike fielded seven riders at the start, following Jonas Vingegaard’s unfortunate withdrawal after a hard crash. Since parting ways with its Danish team leader, the Dutch team had focused entirely on achieving success in the stage.

Visma | Lease a Bike was well represented in a large group of 43 riders who broke away on the first climb. Bruno Armirail was in the group, along with climbers Davide Piganzoli, Sepp Kuss, and Matteo Jorgenson. Per Strand Hagenes, Victor Campenaerts, and Affini were not in the group.

The Italian wouldn't make it to the finish line either. Halfway through the stage, news suddenly broke that Affini had withdrawn. His team, Visma | Lease a Bike, has not yet announced the reason for his withdrawal.