CyclingUpToDate Podcast: "I thought I was hallucinating" - How Jonas Vingegaard's sudden withdrawal stunned the Tour de France
CyclingMonday, 20 July 2026 at 21:30
On the fifth episode of the CyclingUpToDate Podcast, Rúben Silva and Gavin Quinn have discussed Jonas Vingegaard's sudden crash and withdrawal from the Tour de France on stage 15; as well as the sprint dominance of Tim Merlier that continued in the second week of the race.
Tim Merlier dominates the sprints and takes off from the Tour
On stage 11, it was Soren Waerenskjold who took the victory in an unconventional bunch sprint that lacked big leadouts and saw an early surprise sprint take the win. "I think it's the way to go for sprint teams or like non-traditional sprint teams like the Uno-X's and versatile sprinters, which is disrupt that final kilometer," Quinn argued. "Don't let Alpecin, don't let Soudal have their perfect lead out because we'll see what happens then".
On the 12th stage, it was Tim Merlier who took the win in a stage that saw Lidl-Trek go on the attack in the finale; and a mass crash affect the final sprint. "Nobody's fault really in this scenario. You're going 60, 65Km/h, but straight away, Fernando [Gaviria] goes down and takes a couple of riders with him".
"It was incredibly entertaining sprints to the point where I didn't actually think there was going to be a sprint. If you asked me with 30, 40 kilometers to go, a couple of little climbs, a couple of uncategorized drags... I would have almost put my house on [Mathias] Vacek, Derek Gee, somebody from Lidl completely disrupting this".
You can listen to the full podcast below:
Read also
Jonas Vingegaard's crash
On the 15th stage, the Tour de France was turned on its head when Jonas Vingegaard crashed. A fractured collarbone as a result of a fall in an area with a traffic island meant Tadej Pogacar lost his main rival, and the fight for the yellow jersey changed dramatically.
In a matter of a few minutes, the race was completely shook to its core. The two writers detail the moment in which they've learnt what had happened.
"It was a shocking moment to me, actually, because I had a moment where I went to the garage, and I had the stream open on my phone, and everything was normal... It was insane how I got back to the house, and I see Vingegaard entering the ambulance, and I thought I was hallucinating for a little bit, because I... What am I looking at?"
Gavin Quinn had a similar reaction upon the incident. "It's a real kind of, I guess, gut-wrenching moment or something, like similar to you. I was going around, I was making lunch, I was tidying up, I think I was hanging some laundry..."
"I had the race on, so I had already watched the climb of 40 kilometers ago, the steep climb, just to see how the finale is going to be teed up. And I was like 'okay, we have 30 minutes, I guess, until Plateau de Solaison'. And yeah... 'Wait, what?' And I saw... So, when I looked over the TV, I saw this exact picture that we see here (Vingegaard on the ground, ed.)".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Tadej has gifted two stages so far so could be on six wins already.Renz21-07-2026
- We'll never know, but what evidence?... an anonymous phone tip from some rabid Seixas fan? Certainly not a team car full of dope and paraphernalia or a bunch of used syringes in a trash bag at the race finish.mrvco21-07-2026
- True. If you going to test for doping though, between two tough mountain stages is the right time to test beacuse that is when they might need it most.
Andrew21-07-2026 - cycling has been dirty forever, really not sure why no one is giving the testers the benefit of the doubtwhkman21-07-2026
- None of us really know what goes on behind closed doors but it is very suspicious to wake these riders up the day before a big mountain stage while they are still recovering from the mountain stage the day before. I have to go to bed, it's almost 2am lolawp21-07-2026
- And you’re free to believe that as I am free not to believe it regardless of who my neighbours or work colleagues support.Andrew21-07-2026
- And you know that how? Did Pog call you, message you?Andrew21-07-2026
- being reported that as many as 8 teams were tested at late hours and from Benjamin Cohen, head of ITA in April: “I don’t think you would want to do mass testing at the Tour de France, for example, and wake up all the athletes at 3am — that doesn’t make sense. I think you would need to have very concrete suspicions (about an athlete) and use that in a very cautious manner. “I wouldn’t advocate for mass night testing, but certainly for some flexibility if you believe that there is an issue.” so really doesn't seem like he's crazy about testing and thinks they should need evidence for late night testing. and here we are, they went to a judge and got the ok so I think they have credible evidencewhkman21-07-2026
- "a bit much" is an understatement.whkman21-07-2026
- UAE will suffocate Remco in the big mountains !frieders321-07-2026
Loading
Write a comment