“The Tour won’t be the same again without him” - Tadej Pogacar laments abrupt end to clash with Jonas Vingegaard
CyclingSunday, 19 July 2026 at 18:45
Remco Evenepoel’s win on stage 15 of the Tour de France was completely overshadowed by Jonas Vingegaard’s withdrawal after a heavy crash on the descent before the Plateau de Solaison. The first to lament it was Tadej Pogacar, the Dane’s great rival in recent years, who showed deep sadness when he learned the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider had to leave the race.
The yellow jersey admitted the news hit him hard because of the relationship they have built over the past seasons. “It’s really, really very sad to see Jonas out. Since 2021 we’ve always been fighting for the win. At first we didn’t have the best relationship, but in the last two years we’ve become good rivals, rivals who respect each other a lot.”
The Dane's crash happened right in front of Pogacar, who barely avoided it - unlike Isaac del Toro who did go down. The high-speed fall happened in a technical corner.
Pogacar went a step further, explaining that the rivalry has also grown into a friendship. “I think, in a way, we’re friends too. The Tour won’t be the same without him.”
The Slovenian also revealed a detail that could have at least partially influenced the Dane’s crash, which had to do with the doping test the two underwent during the night. Sleep interruption could've potentially affected Vingegaard's focus during the stage.
Jonas Vingegaard's crash
Read also
Could the anti-doping control have distracted Vingegaard?
“Today we coincided at the anti-doping control. He finished around two in the morning and then had to get a blood test”.
Pogacar did not want to use that as justification, though he does believe it may have affected the conditions in which he tackled the stage.
“Maybe that also had something to do with it. If you sleep so little, it’s possible that on a descent you lose a bit of concentration. I’m not saying that was the cause, but maybe it was slightly related.”
Finally, the Tour leader again stressed the feeling of losing his great rival before heading into the final week of racing.
“It’s really very sad to see him leave like this. You never want a rival to abandon in this way.”
A virtually won Tour de France?
Pogacar was then in full control of the race, having avoided the fall. Despite not winning the stage, with Remco Evenepoel doing the honours, the Slovenian has increased his gap to a whole five minutes and has lost his main rival in the race.
The yellow jersey's mission on the Plateau de Solaison looked to be to support Isaac del Toro, who finished third on the day and climbed to the same position in the overall classification - as well as jumping into the lead of the youth classification.
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 3visitors 3
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- I'm pleasantly surprised with your change of tone on Jonas.
KerisVroom20-07-2026 - This is the abuse of the discretion provided by the regulations, which establish a 12-hour time frame. An athlete has the right to rest. Testing should be avoided between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. This is utter French BS. Believe me, they don't knock on the doors of basketball players, footballers, or track and field athletes at 2:00 a.m. to test them. First the booing... second the waking up of Pogi and Vinnie... what's coming next? French haters spitting... throwing urine at Pogi and Jonas, pushing them off the bike etc. etc.???mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales20-07-2026
- No, my "god" was not beaten. Every single podcast I've watched (Laterne Rouge, WEDU-with Spencer Marin and Johan Bruyneel, Escape Collective, Chris Horner, Beyond the Podium and the TNT Sports Studio, said: "Pogi didn't even try to win. Del Toro got the white jersey, moved up in the standings and that was enough for Pogi. Capish, Pogi hater???mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales20-07-2026
- I agree. Hope Jonas recovers soon, the show with Pogi must go on :))mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales20-07-2026
- great comments by Jonas, he is always classymij20-07-2026
- Oh dear. If you know when checks will be, you adapt your schedule. Hopefully they learnt from the Armstrong era, and replaced anyone suspected of sending out warnings.Jumpyjohn20-07-2026
- Exactly. Sweating and urinating are the fastest mechanisms for something in blood and those take 1-4 hrs. So check at 10pm and again check at 6 am. Its easy to catchabstractengineer20-07-2026
- Most recently on Stage 2.Hills3320-07-2026
- The tour organizers screw up again. It was a fast part of the course, a sudden turn. No warning. Only the first few riders would have been able to know it was coming . At this point I believe they want crashes to happencaptmike20-07-2026
- Shhhh, let people have fun 😉 You have fun tooKerisVroom20-07-2026
Loading
Write a comment