Visma Blasts Tour de France Safety Measures in Aftermath of Jonas Vingegaard Crash

Jonas Vingegaard has received successful surgery to fix the damage that took him out of the Tour de France, but team Visma-Lease a Bike is still reeling from the loss of its leader.

Speaking Friday to IDL, team boss Richard Plugge didn’t hold back in pushing the blame for Vingegaard’s dramatic stage 15 crash onto a race that’s outgrown itself.

“If there’s a major threat to the Tour, it’s two things: firstly, the roads and then the course. It’s simply getting more and more dangerous,” Plugge told IDL. “That’s exactly why Jonas crashed on Sunday.

“It was a very dangerous spot that wasn’t properly marked. Life-threatening, in other words,” Plugge said. “As a result, we’ve now lost the number two rider in the Tour de France.”

The tone of the Tour de France changed when Vingegaard crashed out on the roads to Plateau de Solaison.

The Dane was leaking time to his archnemesis Tadej Pogačar but refused to bow down to the Slovenian.

Vingegaard lost his front wheel and smashed to the tarmac as he hurtled through a roundabout littered with road furniture and shallow cobbles last weekend.

The incident sparked a wave of debate over the role of overnight dope tests, a wayward moto, and a peloton that was pushing too hard.

Vingegaard blamed himself for coming in too hot.

Plugge was adamant the hulking scale of the Tour was the problem.

The Dutchman blamed inadequate signage and road markings on the perilous point of the course.

“It’s getting increasingly difficult to make it safe with all the speed bumps, roundabouts, and unmarked traffic islands—and spectators who just jump out onto the road,” he said.

No more racing until 2027? ‘We’ll discuss after the Tour de France’

Plugge spoke to IDL as part of a wide-ranging discussion of the safety – or lack of it – of the Tour de France.

Two days after Vingegaard abandoned with a fractured collarbone, GC hopeful Florian Lipowitz broke his collarbone in a brutal high-speed fall in the stage 16 time trial. Fan footage reveals how only supreme handling skills saved Pogačar from disaster on the very same corner.

One day later, Pogačar got lucky with another miracle save when he narrowly avoided a mass crash early in stage 17. One rider fell after they clipped an unmarked curb to the far right of the road, provoking a huge pileup behind him.

Whatever the cause of Vingegaard’s crash last weekend, his exit was a terrible blow for the rider and Tour de France.

The incident also raised the question – what next for the 29-year-old?

Visma-Lease a Bike director Marc Reef confirmed to TV2 earlier this week that Vingegaard has received successful surgery for his fractured collarbone.

He also warned not to wait around to see Vingegaard race again this season.

“It’s something we’ll discuss after the Tour, and after the Tour we’ll sit down and talk about what’s going to happen,” Reef said. “It’s already been a tough season.

“It’s possible that he will return to cycling this year, although it’s also possible that he won’t,” Reef said.

Vingegaard already raced 51 days in 2026 and collected victories at Paris-Nice, Volta a Catalunya, and the Giro.

After recently expressing his concerns about burnout, nobody would blame him for shutting it down and returning in 2027.