A 2am knock, an unswept corner and a broken collarbone: how Vingegaard's Tour ended on Stage 15

A 2am knock, an unswept corner and a broken collarbone: how Vingegaard's Tour ended on Stage 15

The overnight control and difficult corner raise legitimate athlete-welfare questions, but neither fatigue nor a medical connection to Jonas Vingegaard’s fractured collarbone has been established.

By Tim Bonville-Ginn · · 7 min read

Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) abandoned the Tour de France with a fractured collarbone after crashing on Stage 15, hours after an unusually timed anti-doping control woke him at 2am.

The crash raises two separate questions, one about rider welfare and one about course safety. Nothing confirms a link between the 2am control and the fall, but the timing of the crash has sharpened both. How much did the test disturb Vingegaard's recovery? And why did ASO neither marshal the traffic island nor remove it?

Vingegaard crashed on a tight right-hand bend with slightly more than 20km remaining of Sunday’s 183.9km stage from Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison. Race coverage showed his front wheel clipping the kerb of a traffic island as Visma-Lease a Bike helped control the yellow-jersey group before the final climb. Seemingly setting up the Dane to go on the attack on the final ascent.

Results

Jul 19

Velora
PosRiderTeamTime
🥇
Remco Evenepoel
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE4:23:09
🥈
Tadej Pogačar
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+0:00
🥉
Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+0:06
4
Paul Seixas
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+0:58
5
Florian Lipowitz
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+0:58
6
Lenny Sydney Martinez
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+1:57
7
Mattias Skjelmose Jennow Jensen
LIDL-TREK+1:57
8
Juan Ayuso Pesquera
LIDL-TREK+2:00
9
Adam Richard Yates
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+2:00
10
Quinn Simmons
LIDL-TREK+2:16
11
Yannis Voisard
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+2:22
12
Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+2:51
13
Thomas Pidcock
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+2:54
14
Jordan Jegat
TOTALENERGIES+3:17
15
Antonio Tiberi
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+4:22
16
Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes
MOVISTAR TEAM+4:55
17
Ewen Costiou
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+5:17
18
Davide Piganzoli
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+5:21
19
Ilan van Wilder
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+5:40
20
Matthew Riccitello
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+5:40
21
Mauro Schmid
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+7:07
22
Abel Balderstone Roumens
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+8:56
23
Guillaume Martin Guyonnet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+8:56
24
Nicolya Vinokurov
XDS ASTANA TEAM+9:38
25
Maxim van Gils
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+10:03
26
Jai Hindley
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+10:03
27
Nicolas Prodhomme
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+10:52
28
Aurélien Paret Peintre
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+10:52
29
Carlos Verona Quintanilla
LIDL-TREK+10:52
30
Mattia Cattaneo
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+14:19
31
Felix Grossschartner
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+14:37
32
Brandon Mcnulty
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+14:37
33
Marco Frigo
NSN CYCLING TEAM+14:44
34
Raul Garcia Pierna
MOVISTAR TEAM+16:34
35
Alex Baudin
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+16:48
36
Tim van Dijke
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+17:10
37
Kévin Vauquelin
NETCOMPANY INEOS+17:46
38
Matej Mohoric
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+18:43
39
Tobias Svendsen Foss
NETCOMPANY INEOS+18:43
40
Matteo Jorgenson
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+21:00
41
Sepp Kuss
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+21:00
42
Brent van Moer
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+21:00
43
Victor Campenaerts
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+21:00
44
Ben Healy
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+21:23
45
Lennert van Eetvelt
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+21:23
46
Sean Quinn
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+21:23
47
Michael Valgren
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+21:23
48
Alexandre Delettre
TOTALENERGIES+21:23
49
Nils Politt
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+22:22
50
Tim Wellens
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+22:23
51
Jose Felix Parra Cuerda
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+22:23
52
Bruno Armirail
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+22:35
53
Xandro Meurisse
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+23:49
54
Jonas Abrahamsen
UNO-X MOBILITY+23:49
55
Tiesj Benoot
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+23:49
56
Clément Russo
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+23:49
57
Quentin Pacher
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+23:49
58
Warren Barguil
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+23:49
59
Javier Romo Oliver
MOVISTAR TEAM+23:49
60
Ion Izaguirre Insausti
COFIDIS+23:49
61
Damiano Caruso
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+23:49
62
Simone Velasco
XDS ASTANA TEAM+23:49
63
Jan Tratnik
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+23:49
64
Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia
XDS ASTANA TEAM+23:49
65
Ben Alexander O'Connor
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+23:53
66
Joris Delbove
TOTALENERGIES+24:02
67
Mathis le Berre
TOTALENERGIES+24:02
68
Thymen Arensman
NETCOMPANY INEOS+25:00
69
Egan Arley Bernal Gomez
NETCOMPANY INEOS+25:00
70
Georg Steinhauser
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+25:11
71
Derek Gee
LIDL-TREK+25:19
72
Nelson Oliveira
MOVISTAR TEAM+25:26
73
Clément Braz Afonso
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+25:26
74
Michael James Matthews
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+25:41
75
Quinten Hermans
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+25:46
76
Florian Vermeersch
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+25:46
77
Jakub Otruba
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+26:25
78
Sebastian Berwick
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+26:25
79
Valentin Paret Peintre
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+26:48
80
Romain Gregoire
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+26:48
81
Lorenzo Germani
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+26:48
82
Per Strand Hagenes
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+27:33
83
Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+27:45
84
Pablo Castrillo Zapater
MOVISTAR TEAM+27:45
85
Dylan van Baarle
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+28:18
86
Louis Vervaeke
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+28:18
87
Anthony Turgis
TOTALENERGIES+28:31
88
Robert Stannard
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+28:31
89
Tim Marsman
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+29:14
90
Rick Pluimers
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+29:14
91
Mathieu van der Poel
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+29:14
92
Jasper Stuyven
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+29:14
93
Michael Storer
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+29:14
94
Anders Skaarseth
UNO-X MOBILITY+29:14
95
Tobias Halland Johannessen
UNO-X MOBILITY+29:14
96
Liam Slock
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+29:14
97
Jonas Rickaert
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+29:40
98
Felix Engelhardt
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+30:12
99
Alfred Brockwell Wright
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+30:12
100
Damien Craig Howson
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+30:12
101
George Bennett
NSN CYCLING TEAM+30:12
102
Luke Durbridge
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+30:12
103
Silvan Dillier
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+30:12
104
Michel Heßmann
MOVISTAR TEAM+30:12
105
Emiel Verstrynge
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+30:12
106
Alex Aranburu Deva
COFIDIS+30:12
107
Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda Hernandez
MOVISTAR TEAM+30:12
108
Nico Denz
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+30:12
109
Anders Halland Johannessen
UNO-X MOBILITY+30:12
110
Marco Haller
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+30:16
111
Julian Alaphilippe
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+30:16
112
Niklas Märkl
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+30:48
113
Pascal Ackermann
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+31:17
114
Georg Zimmermann
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+31:17
115
Pavel Bittner
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+31:50
116
Edward Planckaert
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+31:50
117
Milan Fretin
COFIDIS+32:07
118
Max Walker
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+32:11
119
Kasper Asgreen
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+32:11
120
Magnus Nielsen
UNO-X MOBILITY+32:31
121
Jenthe Biermans
COFIDIS+32:31
122
Joshua Michael Tarling
NETCOMPANY INEOS+32:33
123
Marc Hirschi
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+33:04
124
Mike Teunissen
XDS ASTANA TEAM+33:04
125
Lars Craps
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+33:17
126
Vlad van Mechelen
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+33:17
127
Baptiste Veistroffer
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+33:52
128
Hugo Page
COFIDIS+33:52
129
Dorian Godon
NETCOMPANY INEOS+34:14
130
Michal Kwiatkowski
NETCOMPANY INEOS+34:14
131
Filippo Ganna
NETCOMPANY INEOS+34:14
132
Aaron Murray Gate
XDS ASTANA TEAM+34:56
133
Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue
XDS ASTANA TEAM+34:56
134
Stefano Oldani
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+35:23
135
Davide Ballerini
XDS ASTANA TEAM+35:23
136
Edoardo Affini
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+35:23
137
Max Kanter
XDS ASTANA TEAM+35:23
138
Nicolas Breuillard
TOTALENERGIES+35:27
139
Alex Kirsch
COFIDIS+35:50
140
Mathias Vacek
LIDL-TREK+35:50
141
Mads Pedersen
LIDL-TREK+35:50
142
Toms Skujins
LIDL-TREK+35:50
143
Krists Neilands
NSN CYCLING TEAM+35:50
144
Kamil Gradek
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+35:50
145
Phil Bauhaus
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+35:50
146
Piet Allegaert
COFIDIS+35:50
147
Lucas Plapp
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+35:50
148
Olav Kooij
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+35:50
149
Daan Hoole
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+36:37
150
Thibault Guernalec
TOTALENERGIES+36:53
151
Matis Louvel
NSN CYCLING TEAM+36:53
152
Benjamin Thomas
COFIDIS+36:53
153
Frank van den Broek
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+37:04
154
Robbe Dhondt
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+37:23
155
John Degenkolb
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+37:23
156
Julius van den Berg
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+37:23
157
Cees Bol
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+37:23
158
Joel Nicolau Beltran
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA+37:23
159
Jasper Philipsen
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+37:23
160
Huub Artz
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+37:23
161
Matteo Vercher
TOTALENERGIES+37:23
162
Thomas Jake Stewart
NSN CYCLING TEAM+37:27
163
Biniam Girmay
NSN CYCLING TEAM+37:27
164
Lewis Askey
NSN CYCLING TEAM+38:16
165
Pascal Eenkhoorn
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+38:37
166
Søren Wærenskjold
UNO-X MOBILITY+38:40

Four riders went down in the incident, including teammate Sepp Kuss and the UAE Team Emirates-XRG pair of Isaac del Toro and Felix Großschartner, but Vingegaard was the only one to stay down on the roadside. He quickly received treatment from the doctor's car and team staff before having to leave the race in a sling. Visma subsequently confirmed that Vingegaard had fractured his collarbone and suffered multiple abrasions. Surgery was recommended because of the severity of the fracture and will take place in the coming days.

Vingegaard had started the stage second overall, 4 minutes 30 seconds behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG). His withdrawal ended the Tour’s main general-classification rivalry before the final week.

Overnight testing and a difficult corner

According to pre-race comments the Dane made to Eurosport, International Testing Agency officials visited Vingegaard’s hotel room at 2am for a surprise test. Vingegaard said he had been sleeping when officials knocked and reportedly estimated that around 40 minutes passed before he returned to his room, although no official record establishing the duration of the procedure has been published.

Pogačar was reportedly visited at 5am. He said he had obtained around four hours of sleep and could not return to sleep after the control, and reportedly then just listened to music then went to have a lot of coffee.

Anti-doping controls between 11pm and 6am have been permitted since 2016, and UCI rules allow an authorised organisation to request a sample at any time or place. The ITA had announced plans for approximately 600 tests during the Tour, but overnight hotel visits remain unusual.

The rules add a further wrinkle that has so far gone largely unexamined. WADA's International Standard for Testing and Investigations states that in order to test an athlete between 11pm and 6am, an anti-doping organisation "should have serious and specific suspicion that the athlete may be engaged in doping", while also stipulating that a challenge to whether sufficient suspicion existed cannot be used as a defence against a violation. The wording is guidance rather than an outright ban on suspicionless night-time testing, and there is no suggestion that either rider is under any such suspicion. It does, however, leave an obvious question the ITA has yet to answer publicly: what prompted controls at 2am and 5am rather than at the more conventional hours closer to 6am? The agency had not commented on the visits at the time of writing.

Both Vingegaard and Pogačar supported the testing itself but both questioned the timing, while also adding no blame to the officials who were just doing their job.

Former professional Robbie McEwen criticised the visits during TNT Sports’ pre-stage coverage.

“Yes, all for doping control, but being woken at 2am, that’s borderline a violation of human rights,” McEwen said. “It’s just ridiculous, 2am, two weeks into a stage race, it is not normal.”

McEwen's comments are very valid. It was a very strange choice to do the tests as such an hour coming to the end of the second week of the biggest bike race in the world. For sure, testing is essential and the sport is still dragging itself out from under the dark cover of its extremely troubled past, but waking riders in the middle of the night or pre-dawn without clear cause for suspicion is clearly disruptive and disrespectful to the race itself.

Of course, there is no concrete evidence that the test made any difference to how Vingegaard's concentration levels were at the time of the crash, but perhaps the very strange route choice did?

The bend presents a separate safety question. Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), riding ahead of the main group, took evasive action at the same location, where he had to drastically change his line and 'bunny hop' over the traffic island at high speed, miraculously avoiding a crash.

Something that may need further confirmation from ASO is why this particular traffic island wasn't removed, as ASO have the power to temporarily remove some traffic islands and roundabouts. The nature of the roundabout meant removing it entirely wasn't possible, but the island itself surely could have been taken out for the race, thus making the corner far smoother and safer, likely not ending in a crash.

Tadej Pogačar rides in a breakaway as Isaac del Toro and Remco Evenepoel chase during Tour de France stage

The 2am test for Vingegaard likely disturbed his recovery in a key part of the race leaving him potentially more fatigued than he would have been normally. This could have led to a lapse in concentration or reaction time for a corner that had an unexpected obstacle on the exit meaning Vingegaard clipped the traffic island, going down and ending his race. It is important to stress that none of this is confirmed, but there is definitely room to be critical of the anti-doping test time and ASO's potential choice not to move the island.

Pogačar disappointed after loss of rival

After the crash, Pogačar rode primarily for teammate Isaac del Toro, who had also fallen in the incident but remounted. The yellow jersey helped close the remaining breakaway advantage and supported del Toro’s attempts on Plateau de Solaison.

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) followed Del Toro’s late moves before countering inside the final kilometre to take the stage victory. Pogačar followed Evenepoel without producing a full sprint, finishing second as del Toro placed third, six seconds behind. Pogačar seemed tetchy and unhappy on the bike as well as constantly talking on the radio as well as taking his earpiece out altogether on occasions.

It appeared he didn't want to win on a stage where he didn't have Vingegaard to go against. Pogačar may have been relishing what Vingegaard may have come up with on the final climb, but the crash meant it wasn't to be. Pogačar’s comments afterwards suggested that he didn't want to win the stage out of respect for his long-time rival.

“It’s really sad to see that Jonas is out,” Pogačar said in the Tour’s official post-stage interview. “Since 2021, we’ve always been 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, with respect, and I also think kind of friends. The Tour will not be the same without him.

"It helped us a lot that the break didn’t form in the first two hours. Then Visma decided to go for the stage I think, and it was perfect. We had Adam [Yates] at the front, he could go for the stage. Chapeau to Quinn Simmons, he was supersonic today. We tried then with Isaac [del Toro]. It’s his climb! But I think he also had a bit of pain from his crash and he lost a little bit of confidence for the final. Anyway, it’s a good day for him and he can be happy with the white jersey and a good situation in GC.

"Chapeau to Remco (Evenepoel). Solaison is a 30-minute test climb and I think we did some of our best numbers. Remco sometimes just needs a bit of a morale boost and today he was a rocket. He’s gonna be a pain in the ass next week also."

Cover image credit: Charly Lopez

Velora newsletter

Never miss a story

The biggest cycling stories, tech insight and race analysis — twice a week, free.

Tim Bonville-Ginn headshot

Tim Bonville-Ginn

Pro cycling contributor

Tim Bonville-Ginn is a freelance writer who has worked in cycling for well over a decade with his articles being featured across publications such as Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Cyclist, Rouleur, Eurosport, Road cc, Domestique, and more.

As well as writing, Tim has worked as a social media and press manager for professional teams Human Powered Health, Global 6, and Saint Piran across Europe as well as commentating on races such as the African Continental Championships, Tour de Feminin and multiple rounds of the British road and circuit series for Golazo and Monument Cycling.

Expertise:Racing