{"id":2064977,"date":"2026-07-27T14:12:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2064977"},"modified":"2026-07-27T14:12:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:12:32","slug":"severed-thumbs-smashed-faces-lots-of-fractured-collarbones-all-the-tour-de-france-dnfs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2064977","title":{"rendered":"Severed Thumbs, Smashed Faces, Lots of Fractured Collarbones: All the Tour de France DNFs"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Q4A9191.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 27, 2026 12:57PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A peloton of 184 riders started the Tour de France in Barcelona. Only 158 of them made it to the finish Paris.<\/p>\n

Yellow jerseys, super sprinters, and top Americans were among the 26 riders who didn\u2019t make it the full three weeks due to injuries, illness, or the omnipresent time cut.<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard, Brandon McNulty, Tim Merlier, Florian Lipowitz, and Torstein Tr\u00e6en headline the relatively small but highly significant dropout list.<\/p>\n

And yes, that\u2019s right. A total of 26 DNFs is low in the context of the modern-era Tour de France.<\/p>\n

In fact, this was the second-least attritional Tour of the 2020s.<\/p>\n

The lowest dropout rate was set in 2025. Only 24 riders were forced out last year.<\/p>\n

The most damaging Tour de France of the current decade? The 2021 edition, when a total of 43 riders abandoned. Brutal.<\/p>\n

In that year, 12 riders exited in just one rain-soaked sufferfest through the Alps. Eight more went two stages later on a double ascent of the Ventoux.<\/p>\n

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Low volume, high caliber<\/h2>\n
\"Vingegaard
The entire Tour de France lost when Jonas Vingegaard crashed out on stage 15.<\/span> (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dropout rate for 2026 was thankfully relatively low. But it was high in caliber.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Vingegaard and Lipowitz took away GC podium trophies. This year, they went home with fractured collarbones.<\/p>\n

Cian Uijtdebroeks was hoping for a breakout top-5, but sickness had other plans.<\/p>\n

And poor ol\u2019 Tr\u00e6en was one of the very few riders in Tour de France history who crashed out while wearing the maillot jaune.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the other end of the peloton, Tim Merlier abandoned as the<\/em> sprinter of the Tour. The hat-trick king climbed off his Specialized on stage 15 in the Vosges. The big Belgian saw the Alps on the next week\u2019s horizon and decided he was fatigued enough already.<\/p>\n

Merlier\u2019s Soudal-Quick Step team was one of the three to lose three riders, the most losses any squad sustained at the 2026 Tour de France.<\/p>\n

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Only eight teams made it to Paris unscathed.<\/p>\n

Fractured collarbones and F\u2019d thumbs<\/h2>\n
Einer Rubio became a victim of Alpe d\u2019Huez madness.<\/span> (Photo: Belga \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vingegaard and Lipowitz were among the four riders who left the Tour with fractured collarbones, the so-called \u201coccupational hazard\u201d of pro cycling.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, two riders left with injuries no Tour de France cyclist should expect to suffer.<\/p>\n

Chris Harper lost a part of his thumb when he slid to the tarmac on a sinuous descent in the Massif Central.<\/p>\n

Einer Rubio plowed face-first into the back of a car on Alpe d\u2019Huez and needed 20 stitches to put things back together.<\/p>\n

Here are all the dropouts of the 2026 Tour de France:<\/h3>\n
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\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
1<\/span><\/td>\nStage 2<\/span><\/td>\n\u00a0Cl\u00e9ment Berthet<\/span><\/td>\nGroupama \u2013 FDJ United<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/span><\/td>\nStage 3<\/span><\/td>\nArnaud de Lie<\/span><\/td>\nLotto-Intermarch\u00e9<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nSick, dropped<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/span><\/td>\nStage 4<\/span><\/td>\nKelland O\u2019Brien<\/span><\/td>\nJayco Alula<\/span><\/td>\nOTL<\/span><\/td>\nInjured, dropped<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/span><\/td>\nStage 6<\/span><\/td>\nAlex Molenaar<\/span><\/td>\nCaja Rural Seguros<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/span><\/td>\nStage 6<\/span><\/td>\nArvid de Kleijn<\/span><\/td>\nTudor<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/span><\/td>\nStage 6<\/span><\/td>\nBert Van Lerberghe<\/span><\/td>\nSoudal Quick Step<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/span><\/td>\nStage 6<\/span><\/td>\nCian Uijtdebroeks<\/span><\/td>\nMovistar<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nSick<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/span><\/td>\nStage 7<\/span><\/td>\nTorstein Tr\u00e6en<\/span><\/td>\nUno-X Mobility<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/span><\/td>\nStage 10<\/span><\/td>\nMatteo Trentin<\/span><\/td>\nTudor<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nSick<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/span><\/td>\nStage 11<\/span><\/td>\nChris Harper<\/span><\/td>\nJayco Alula<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11<\/span><\/td>\nStage 13<\/span><\/td>\nFernando Gaviria<\/span><\/td>\nCaja Rural Seguros<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12<\/span><\/td>\nStage 13<\/span><\/td>\nJenno Berckmoes<\/span><\/td>\nLotto-Intermarch\u00e9<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13<\/span><\/td>\nStage 13<\/span><\/td>\nFrits Biesterbos<\/span><\/td>\nPicnic-PostNL<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14<\/span><\/td>\nStage 14<\/span><\/td>\nRamses Debruyne<\/span><\/td>\nAlpecin-Premier Tech<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nSick<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15<\/span><\/td>\nStage 14<\/span><\/td>\nAnthon Charmig<\/span><\/td>\nUno-X Mobility<\/span><\/td>\nOTL<\/span><\/td>\nInjured, dropped<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16<\/span><\/td>\nStage 15<\/span><\/td>\nTim Merlier<\/span><\/td>\nSoudal Quick Step<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nSick<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17<\/span><\/td>\nStage 15<\/span><\/td>\nTom Van Asbroeck<\/span><\/td>\nNSN\u00a0 Cycling<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nTBD<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
18<\/span><\/td>\nStage 15<\/span><\/td>\nJonas Vingegaard<\/span><\/td>\nVisma-Lease a Bike<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
19<\/span><\/td>\nStage 16<\/span><\/td>\nLars Craps<\/span><\/td>\nLotto-Intermarch\u00e9<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nSick<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
20<\/span><\/td>\nStage 16<\/span><\/td>\nFlorian Lipowitz<\/span><\/td>\nRed Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
21<\/span><\/td>\nStage 18<\/span><\/td>\nJos\u00e9 F\u00e9lix Parra<\/span><\/td>\nCaja Rural Seguros<\/span><\/td>\nDNS<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
22<\/span><\/td>\nStage 18<\/span><\/td>\nBrandon McNulty<\/span><\/td>\nUAE Emirates-XRG<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nSick<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
23<\/span><\/td>\nStage 19<\/span><\/td>\nEdoardo Affini<\/span><\/td>\nVisma-Lease a Bike<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nDropped, climbed off<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
24<\/span><\/td>\nStage 19<\/span><\/td>\nEiner Rubio<\/span><\/td>\nMovistar<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
25<\/span><\/td>\nStage 20<\/span><\/td>\nPascal Ackermann<\/span><\/td>\nJayco Alula<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nInjury<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
26<\/span><\/td>\nStage 20<\/span><\/td>\nIlan Van Wilder<\/span><\/td>\nSoudal Quick Step<\/span><\/td>\nDNF<\/span><\/td>\nInjury \/ crash<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Jim Cotton<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 27, 2026 12:57PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Q4A9191.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated July 27, 2026 12:57PM A peloton of 184 riders started the Tour de France in Barcelona. Only 158 of them made it to the finish Paris. Yellow jerseys, super sprinters, and top Americans were among the 26 riders who didn\u2019t make it the full three weeks due to injuries, […]<\/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-2064977","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\/2064977","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=2064977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2064977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2064977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2064977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}