{"id":2051623,"date":"2026-07-19T20:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T17:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051623"},"modified":"2026-07-19T20:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T17:10:12","slug":"never-off-the-podium-now-off-the-race-exit-of-vingegaard-is-a-huge-blow-for-the-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051623","title":{"rendered":"Never off the Podium, Now off the Race: Exit of Vingegaard Is a Huge Blow for the Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jonas Vingegaard\u2019s exit from the Tour de France is the biggest twist thus far in this year\u2019s storyline, with the double Tour champion having been poised to go all out on Sunday\u2019s stage 15.<\/p>\n
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His Visma-Lease a Bike team were driving the pace towards the foot of the day\u2019s final climb, with Vingegaard having pledged before the stage to give it everything in a bid to take time back from Tadej Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
Instead he hit the deck with around 22km to go when his wheel slid out on a right hand bend, and landed hard on his right shoulder. He was quickly assessed by Tour doctors and then climbed into a race medical vehicle, grimacing and with his Tour over.<\/p>\n
Clarification later came from his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther examinations revealed that Vingegaard sustained a broken collarbone and multiple abrasions,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the severity of the fracture, he will undergo surgery in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The DNF is a huge blow, not least because it is the first Grand Tour non-finish of his career. Vingegaard\u2019s record is otherwise a glittering one. Aside from his three week debut in the 2020 Vuelta, where he was 46th, he finished either first or second in every Grand Tour he has done.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year he won the Giro d\u2019Italia, taking five stages along the way. That followed on from his Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a demolition last September, where he captured the GC plus three stages.<\/p>\n
He also beat Poga\u010dar to win the Tour in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n
Vingegaard was second overall to Poga\u010dar in 2021, 2024 and again last year.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a dazzling run of results and makes his withdrawal all the more disappointing to fans, to media, to the Tour itself. And so too to his rivals.<\/p>\n
\u2018Something you never wish on anybody\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really, really sad to see that Jonas is out,\u201d said Poga\u010dar after the stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince \u201921 we were always battling out for the victory. Maybe in the beginning we didn\u2019t have the best relationship, but in the last two years we became good rivals, respected rivals, competitors. But I also think kind of friends.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe Tour will not be the same without him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stage winner Remco Evenepoel was more concise but also offered his regrets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really bad news in first place for himself and the team, and also for the race that he is out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is something that you never wish on anybody.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something you don\u2019t like to see because everybody does big sacrifices to get here and when you drop out on such a stupid [makes air quotes sign] moment it is very unfortunate.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did late night doping control contribute to the crash?<\/h2>\n
An intriguing element to the crash is the possible effect sleep deprivation may have had in the matter.<\/p>\n
Both Poga\u010dar and former professional Robbie McEwen pondered Sunday if being awoken from sleep by doping control officers may have been a factor.<\/p>\n
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The Dane revealed prior to the start of the stage that they had come knocking on his door at 2am and that he lost a chunk of shuteye as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we had a doping control. He did his at 2 in the morning,\u201d Poga\u010dar said. \u201cIt got me thinking that maybe this is also a reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne night that your sleep is ruined, maybe [you are ] a little bit less concentrated in the descent. History is ruined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t blame that, but it could also be a little bit connected. It\u2019s just really sad to see him leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
McEwen concurred with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much of a contribution did the 2am doping control make to Jonas making a mistake?\u201d he said during the TNT Sports broadcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t say it absolutely did, but one thing you can\u2019t do is say that it didn\u2019t. Because [considering] concentration levels and everything that goes into getting through a Tour stage under incredible fatigue, let alone getting woken up two weeks into the race for a doping control.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnyone who says \u2018no, no, that wasn\u2019t a factor,\u2019 then I\u2019m calling you out on it. Because I\u2019m saying it absolutely could have been, and probably was a factor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vingegaard is yet to comment after his fall, so it is unclear if he also felt his night disturbance had affected him.<\/p>\n
Still, the timing of the test has raised questions, particularly before such a crucial stage.<\/p>\n
Belief was high, but now team left with no Plan B<\/h2>\nVingegaard\u2019s quest for a third victory at the Tour de France ended on stage 15.<\/span> (Photo: HBO Max)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Dropping out of the Tour is a morale-crushing moment for Vingegaard. He put a lot of work in to be ready for the race, both over the winter and also in the weeks since winning the Giro.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all gone now and, at 29 years of age, he and his team will wonder if his best chance of beating Poga\u010dar again has gone.<\/p>\n
He will be 30 in December and while some riders have won the Tour past that age, it does become more and more difficult with each passing season.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a concern, but so too what he missed out on in this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
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While Vingegaard started the stage 4:30 off Poga\u010dar\u2019s Maillot Jaune, he and his team insisted that he was capable of taking time back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were on stage 15 and we had no plan B. We were really all in with Jonas and believed in it. I thought it was beautiful,\u201d said Matteo Jorgenson.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was going really well. He was on a really good day, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sport director Marc Reef agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had today a big goal of course to try to win the stage. Everything went according to plan until the moment that he crashed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had everything we planned this morning with two riders ahead, with having the situation still under control, with him feeling really, really good. Also the guys that had to do it on the climb were really good.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation was under control, the time gap was under control and we were ready to really go for it here on the final climb.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Vingegaard is the only rider who has defeated Poga\u010dar in the Tour. Indeed he dropped him on more than one occasion during the 2022 and 2023 Tours. And while he had not been able to do so during this edition, he remained convinced that he could bounce back and start doing so in the final week or so of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was, he said, still all to race for.<\/p>\n
Instead he will head home, his arm in a sling, his morale on the ground.<\/p>\n
Jorgenson summed up the situation pretty well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens to everyone, just crashing and losing your goal. But every time you have to take a step and take a beating\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cBike racing sucks sometimes. It really does.\u201d<\/p>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2286730385.jpg”] Shane Stokes Published July 19, 2026 02:10PM Jonas Vingegaard\u2019s exit from the Tour de France is the biggest twist thus far in this year\u2019s storyline, with the double Tour champion having been poised to go all out on Sunday\u2019s stage 15. His Visma-Lease a Bike team were driving the pace towards the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2051623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2051623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2051623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2051623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2051623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Vingegaard's](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-19-at-8.13.36-AM-scaled-e1784475566986.png?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")