Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard has been forced to abandon the race for the first time in his career after a crash during Sunday's Stage 15. The Danish rider, who was second in the overall standings, went down with three other cyclists approximately 20km from the finish line after his front wheel clipped a kerb on a tight corner. The incident left Vingegaard, 29, visibly in pain and with his right arm in a sling before he was taken away by ambulance.
The crash also involved Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Sepp Kuss, as well as Isaac del Toro and Brandon McNulty from Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG. While the other three riders were able to continue, Del Toro reportedly struggled in the final kilometres to keep pace with the leading group.
Race leader Tadej Pogacar, who finished second in the stage, extended his overall lead to five minutes ahead of Remco Evenepoel. Evenepoel, a Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider who was third overall before Vingegaard's withdrawal, pushed past Pogacar to secure his first stage victory in this year's Tour. Del Toro finished third a few seconds later.
Pogacar expressed his sadness at Vingegaard's departure, telling Eurosport, "It’s really sad to see that Jonas is out, since 2021, we were always battling out for the Tour, maybe at the beginning we didn’t have the best relationship, but then we became good rivals, respected rivals. We are good teammates, even friends... the Tour won't be the same without him."
The Slovenian also raised a potential concern regarding the circumstances leading to the crash, stating, "We were talking about the doping controls at two in the morning, I don't know if it could have affected his concentration. I don’t blame that, but it could be connected." This comment alludes to the rigorous anti-doping protocols that professional cyclists undergo, which can sometimes involve early morning tests.