Jonas Vingegaard underwent surgery on his fractured collarbone in Denmark on Tuesday, encouraging his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates to fight on in the Tour de France after an emotional farewell over a hamburger and fries.
Vingegaard crashed with 21km of stage 15 remaining, as Visma-Lease a Bike worked to close down a breakaway. Victor Campenaerts led the team through a difficult turn, opting for a wide line at speed through the French traffic furniture.
The Dane was several riders back and appeared to slip out and hit the kerb. He immediately knew he had fractured his collarbone and left the Tour in an ambulance.
“Maybe we came into this roundabout a little too fast, and then my front wheel just slips. I can't do anything. That's how cycling races are sometimes," Vingegaard explained.
He travelled home on Tuesday morning and immediately underwent surgery.
"Everything went well," Visma told the Danish media, with some pundits suggesting that Vingegaard could recover quickly and even target the Road World Championships in Canada in late September.
"They did what they had to. It wasn't the most complicated operation you can have. Everything went well," Visma sports director Marc Reef told the TV 2 Danish television channel. He also opened up on Vingegaard's plans for the rest of the 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. It's already been a tough season," Reef said. TV2 suggested that Reef also suggested that it i possible that Vingegaard will get back on the bike this year but also possible that he won't. Vingegaard won the Giro d'Italia and raced for 51 days in 2026.
Losing Vingegaard when he was second overall, and so suddenly, was a shock to his teammates. However, the Dane joined them at dinner on the eve of the rest day and encouraged them to race on, insisting the crash wasn't their fault.
"He came to the hotel. He had probably already had his difficult moment and he will likely take another hit when he gets home, but he had to comfort us more than the other way around," Campenaerts told Sporza after completing the stage 16 time trial.
"We had a nice dinner, very cosy. Usually we have burgers and fries, but those are Food Coach burgers and fries. They're tasty but different from the chip shop. There was a McDonald's in the nearby village, and Jonas went to get real burgers and fries. He sat at our table. It was very pleasant. I think everyone went back to the room feeling good."
Campenaerts revealed to Het Laatste Nieuws that Vingegaard told him not to feel any blame for the crash.
"He told me: 'Don't get any crazy ideas in your head, OK? There are still six days of racing left in the biggest race in the world. Make the best of it!'"
Matteo Jorgenson admitted that Visma had no Plan B, but the team quickly refocused and reset their goals. Bruno Armirail finished eighth in the time trial, Davide Piganzoli could fight for a top ten place on GC, and other riders will target stage victories in the mountains.
"We still have a good group, and the focus is already switched. We miss Jonas, but we're looking forward to just going for the next stages together, and we should have a lot of fun," Sepp Kuss said after his time trial.
"That is my motivation to bring out the best in myself, to try to win at the Tour de France," Campenaerts told Sporza.
"Potentially we can win all the other stages. That is a difficult switch. Trying to win stages hasn't been on my agenda for a while now. But we are going to make a good plan with the team."
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