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UPDATED: Visma-Lease a Bike officials confirmed Monday that Axel Zingle will not start stage 3 at the Vuelta a España.
“Unfortunately, after yesterday’s crash, our medical team had to decide that Axel Zingle is not fit enough to continue the Vuelta a España. His first Grand Tour with the team comes to an early end,” a team note read.
Sunday’s report:
Axel Zingle of Visma-Lease a Bike endured a bizarre and painful second stage at the Vuelta a España.
The 26-year-old went down with four other Visma-Lease a Bike teammates on a wet roundabout, but unlike Jonas Vingegaard, who shook off the high-speed wipeout to go on to win the stage and double-up as the Vuelta’s new race leader, things went even worse for Zingle.
The Frenchman dislocated his shoulder not once but twice during the closing kilometers of the Vuelta’s first mountaintop finale, yet still managed to finish the stage in dead last and stay in the Vuelta.
And to add insult to injury, Zingle’s bike went missing.
Here’s how he recounted it to Eurosport at the finish line Sunday.
“Nothing serious, but unfortunately, I dislocated my shoulder, and they had to put it back in place before I could get going again,” Zingle told Eurosport. “The problem is, it had never happened to me before, so I didn’t know how to put the shoulder back myself. I had to ask for help.”
Shoulder dislocations are a relatively common injury in cycling, and there have been instances of pros popping their shoulders back into place.
That happened to Julian Alaphilippe in stage 15 at this summer’s Tour de France, and the former two-time world champion managed to pop it back into place on the roadside himself, and he even sprinted for third place.
Zingle’s odyssey was just beginning.
‘He left with my bike’
Zingle, right, leads out the action early in the stage. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
There were some gruesome images on Sunday as Zingle leaned against one of the race doctor’s cars as medics worked to slot his shoulder back into place.
Then things got weirder.
“Then something pretty funny happened, I reached for a gel and I dislocated my shoulder again, so I had to stop,” he said. “There was a guy who didn’t speak very good English, so I handed him my bike while I got into the ambulance so they could reset my shoulder.
“And when I came out of the ambulance, my bike was gone. I had to wait 5 to 10 minutes. Turns out he had left with my bike, so I got a bit flustered, but, well, that’s how it was.”
#LaVuelta25 / Les Français ne sont pas vernis aujourd’hui. Axel Zingle (TVL) est le plus touché. #LesRP https://t.co/bCctq1iCdr pic.twitter.com/oja4KPTSYf
— Renaud Breban (@RenaudB31) August 24, 2025
Zingle had to wait around before the following team car could give him his backup bike.
Unwilling to throw in the towel, Zingle still finished the stage, crossing the line in last in 183rd at 24:05 back, safely within the time cut.
“Oh no, I want to continue this Vuelta,” Zingle said. “I don’t want to stop here. Luckily, the most important thing is that Jonas can carry on. Apparently, he doesn’t seem to have any after-effects from his crash, so that’s good.
“Second stage, we start with a victory, that’s good. And, well, if you can climb a climb like that with a dislocated shoulder, then it’s all good.”
Visma-Lease a Bike officials later clarified that the bike was not stolen, but rather it was placed into the broom wagon that follows the race, citing a “misunderstanding” on its status.
The bike was later returned to the team.