The opening stage of the La Route d'Occitanie was won by Thibaud Gruel and in third place was Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Axel Zingle. The Frenchman did this despite a diagnosed iliac artery problem which will require surgery. This will end his season in June, with the Tour de France or even the Vuelta a España out of the equation.
Close to victory in France
Zingle was given a shot at leadership in Occitanie, one last chance to search for a win in a season that did not go his way. “There’s always room for improvement when you don’t win, I’m a little disappointed, but I only have myself to blame," Zingle said in a post-race interview with DirectVelo.
"Because I knew I had to be in the best possible position for the 600-meter turn. It got a little chaotic; we took the lead a bit too early, and then it was up to me to get into the right wheel, but I hesitated—I messed it up by not daring to put in the effort.” A flat bunch sprint is not the specialty for the classics rider, nevertheless the modest startlist allowed him to be in contention. He finished third on the day, with hopes of succeeding this Friday in a more suited stage.
“But then I made the wrong decisions myself," he continued. "Because of that, I had to start my sprint from very far back to make up ground later on. It was hard to imagine that I would win under those circumstances, even though I had a good sprint at the end. I should have believed in myself more.”
Axel Zingle racing in the colours of Visma
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Mandatory surgery puts an end to Zingle's season
However today is likely his last chance to win this season - with Saturday's stage featuring difficult mountainous terrain. Zingle will not race in the Visma colours again this season, including the upcoming national championships.
“This is my last race- I’m having surgery I won’t be competing in the French championships, my form isn’t great anyway, so that’s it. I have to do it; I have no choice. I won’t be back this season. There’s no point; it’s better not to rush things. After all, it’s major surgery.”
Zingle will undergo an iliac artery surgery, something which has been more and more common amongst pro cyclists, and requires a lengthy recovery. Whilst it does not prevent rider from racing, it hampers their blood flow which ultimately also leads to reduced performances.
Zingle is suffering from the condition, and will try to have it fixed, in order to make a recovery and reach his best physical and mental level. “I’m trying to enjoy it despite everything. That’s why I would have loved to win: it could have helped me stay positive in the coming months, which will undoubtedly be long.”
Zingle should then put on a pin once again in 2027, his last year of contract with the Dutch team. "I still have a contract for next year, but I definitely want to do better. Of course, the team expects more from me, too. Since I joined the team, I’ve had a bit of a rough time. I need to stay focused and hope things go better next year".
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.
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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)...
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- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
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