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Jonas Vingegaard suffered a brutal crash on stage 15 of the Tour de France. The Danish rider from Visma | Lease a Bike went down hard in a tricky roundabout, broke his collarbone, and was forced to withdraw from the race. There was much speculation about the cause of the crash, with the late-night doping test cited as a possible culprit. Geraint Thomas denies this, and domestique Victor Campenaert seems to be blaming himself.
Disaster struck with just over twenty kilometers to go on stage 15. Visma | Lease a Bike wanted to go all out on the attack and ramped up the pace in the peloton. However, things went wrong at a roundabout. Vingegaard lost control there and came down hard. He remained on the ground for quite a while before getting into the medical car. A crushing blow for Visma | Lease a Bike.
The fact that the Dane had been pulled out of bed at 2 a.m. that very night by doping inspectors was seen by many as the cause. Even Tadej Pogacar saw it as a problem. A disrupted night’s sleep means slower reaction times, right? Thomas understands this, but he disagrees. “They were riding to win the stage. If you’re so tired that you crash because your reactions are too slow, you’re not going to win a stage in the Tour either,” he explains on his podcast, Watts Occurring.
Ben Swift, a fellow podcaster and cyclist with Netcompany INEOS, agrees. “They passed a lot of dangerous spots before that turn—one of the last turns before the final climb,” the Brit explains. “It’s such an isolated incident, so far removed from that moment, and a lot has happened since then. It can’t be related.”
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Thomas: 'There's no reason to take a turn as if you were in the final three kilometers'
Thomas adds, “It’s less than ten percent. As far as I’m concerned, they went into the roundabout too fast. They took it in a strange way, and he fell. Armirail and Campenaerts had fallen back from the lead group, and Campenaerts was in the lead. To me, he was just going too fast. There was no reason to take the turn as if you were in the final three kilometers.”
The motorcyclists were also seen as a possible factor in the crash. Visma | Lease a Bike was riding very fast on the descent, forcing the motorcyclists to keep pedaling hard. Were the riders too close to each other at the fateful roundabout? Thomas also refutes that theory. He saw Victor Campenaerts’ pace as the main cause.
Blaming the bikes is too easy for the former Tour de France winner. “I get it, but at the same time, I’d say: you’re the one on the bike, you’re leading the group, and you have your own brakes. You know there are some tricky turns. Of course it can have an effect, but I’d say: just take it a little easier.”
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Vingegaard reassured a downcast Campenaerts
Vingegaard withdrew from the race, but didn’t truly say goodbye to the Tour de France until a day later. During the rest day, the team leader thanked everyone on his team and said goodbye to the Tour. According to L'Équipe, the mood was rather somber at the Visma | Lease a Bike hotel, where the team had still not fully come to terms with the setback.
Campenaerts, in particular, had a tough time, according to the French magazine. The Belgian reportedly blamed himself for the crash, since he was in the lead at the time. Vingegaard, however, reassured him before heading back to Denmark.
