Never off the Podium, Now off the Race: Exit of Vingegaard Is a Huge Blow for the Tour

Jonas Vingegaard’s exit from the Tour de France is the biggest twist thus far in this year’s storyline, with the double Tour champion having been poised to go all out on Sunday’s stage 15.

His Visma-Lease a Bike team were driving the pace towards the foot of the day’s final climb, with Vingegaard having pledged before the stage to give it everything in a bid to take time back from Tadej Pogačar.

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.

Clarification later came from his team.

“Further examinations revealed that Vingegaard sustained a broken collarbone and multiple abrasions,” it said.

“Due to the severity of the fracture, he will undergo surgery in the coming days.”

The DNF is a huge blow, not least because it is the first Grand Tour non-finish of his career. Vingegaard’s 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.

Earlier this year he won the Giro d’Italia, taking five stages along the way. That followed on from his Vuelta a España demolition last September, where he captured the GC plus three stages.

He also beat Pogačar to win the Tour in 2022 and 2023.

Vingegaard was second overall to Pogačar in 2021, 2024 and again last year.

That’s 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.

‘Something you never wish on anybody’

“It’s really, really sad to see that Jonas is out,” said Pogačar after the stage.

“Since ’21 we were always battling out for the victory. Maybe in the beginning we didn’t have the best relationship, but in the last two years we became good rivals, respected rivals, competitors. But I also think kind of friends.

“The Tour will not be the same without him.”

Stage winner Remco Evenepoel was more concise but also offered his regrets.

“It is really bad news in first place for himself and the team, and also for the race that he is out,” he said. “It is something that you never wish on anybody.

“It is something you don’t 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.

“So I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery.”

Did late night doping control contribute to the crash?

An intriguing element to the crash is the possible effect sleep deprivation may have had in the matter.

Both Pogačar and former professional Robbie McEwen pondered Sunday if being awoken from sleep by doping control officers may have been a factor.

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.

“Today we had a doping control. He did his at 2 in the morning,” Pogačar said. “It got me thinking that maybe this is also a reason.

“One night that your sleep is ruined, maybe [you are ] a little bit less concentrated in the descent. History is ruined.

“I don’t blame that, but it could also be a little bit connected. It’s just really sad to see him leave.”

McEwen concurred with that.

“How much of a contribution did the 2am doping control make to Jonas making a mistake?” he said during the TNT Sports broadcast.

“You can’t say it absolutely did, but one thing you can’t do is say that it didn’t. 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.

“Anyone who says ‘no, no, that wasn’t a factor,’ then I’m calling you out on it. Because I’m saying it absolutely could have been, and probably was a factor.”

Vingegaard is yet to comment after his fall, so it is unclear if he also felt his night disturbance had affected him.

Still, the timing of the test has raised questions, particularly before such a crucial stage.

Belief was high, but now team left with no Plan B

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.

That’s all gone now and, at 29 years of age, he and his team will wonder if his best chance of beating Pogačar again has gone.

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.

That’s a concern, but so too what he missed out on in this year’s race.

While Vingegaard started the stage 4:30 off Pogačar’s Maillot Jaune, he and his team insisted that he was capable of taking time back.

“We 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,” said Matteo Jorgenson.

“Today was going really well. He was on a really good day, I think.”

Sport director Marc Reef agreed.

“We had today a big goal of course to try to win the stage. Everything went according to plan until the moment that he crashed.

“We 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.

“The situation was under control, the time gap was under control and we were ready to really go for it here on the final climb.”

Vingegaard is the only rider who has defeated Pogačar 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.”

It was, he said, still all to race for.

Instead he will head home, his arm in a sling, his morale on the ground.

Jorgenson summed up the situation pretty well.

“It happens to everyone, just crashing and losing your goal. But every time you have to take a step and take a beating…

“Bike racing sucks sometimes. It really does.”