Yellow jersey Torstein Træen crashed on the descent of the Col du Tourmalet on stage six of the 2026 Tour de France.
The Uno-X Mobility rider was already losing time on stage six leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) when the incident happened, but the crash saw him fully out of contention.
Træeen clipped wheels with his Uno-X teammate Anders Halland Johannessen on a corner and hit the ground. However, after being checked on by his team, the Norwegian was back on his bike and looked to be OK to continue, laughing with Halland Johannessen.
After the crash, Træen was almost 13 minutes behind Pogačar, wiping out his 7:53 advantage which existed pre-stage.
Træen gained yellow on stage four of the Tour in Foix after he was part of a giant breakaway which finished almost 13 minutes ahead of the peloton. However, his stay in the leader's jersey was short-lived, in the baking hot Pyrenees on Thursday afternoon; a shorter time than his four days in red at the Vuelta a España last year.
On Wednesday, he said: "We have to see how fast they're going. And of course, Tadej is Tadej, and I think if he goes full gas on the Tourmalet, maybe I will be behind. You don't know how much you will be losing. We've just got to see tomorrow."
"We haven't had a lot of real mountain climbing yet," he added. "So we don't know what will happen, and then with this heat everything can happen, so you just have to hope and do your best."
More to follow...
