Photographer who caused Vingegaard's Tour de France accident receives his punishment

The Tour de France 2025 is heading towards its end. In the Alps, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar will star in the decisive chapter of their fight for general classification. Fortunately, without any visible consequences of the accident the former suffered after finishing Tuesday's stage on Mont Ventoux. After the summit, the Visma rider clashed with a photographer in the middle of the road, causing the Dane to fall.

On Wednesday's stage 17, Vingegaard did not feel any discomfort from the previous day's incident. The Visma | Lease a Bike leader was able to complete the day without discomfort. In fact, there was even a moment when he took it upon himself to counter an attack by Ivan Romeo on the first of the day's categorized climbs.

The one who has seen that his actions have consequences is precisely the photographer. The employee of the news agency EPA crossed the street yesterday without looking back, and has been penalized in this regard. There are no images or photos of the incident, as it occurred in an area just behind the finish line, where no one was allowed access, except two photographers, one of them the cause of the accident.

According to Wielerflits, this photographer has been suspended 2 days from the race, so he will not be able to see the finish on top of the Col de la Loze.

Richard Plugge, director of Visma | Lease a Bike, commented on the incident, stating that it could have knocked Jonas Vingegaard out of the race: "Luckily, Jonas (Vingegaard) came out unscathed. This could have been the end of his Tour de France," he began by noting.

Furthermore, Plugge made it clear that, if it were up to him, he would have sanctioned the photographer until the Tour de France was over: "It's up to the jury to determine the sanction. But, in my opinion, he should have been suspended for the rest of the Tour. This should not have happened," he added.