{"id":819489,"date":"2026-10-31T06:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T06:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819489\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T06:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T06:50:17","slug":"lease-a-bike-looks-back-on-the-darkest-day-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819489\/","title":{"rendered":"Lease a Bike looks back on the darkest day of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re already well into October, which means it\u2019s time for the traditional look back at the cycling season just gone. Visma | Lease a Bike<\/a> is doing the same. The Dutch team highlights the best moments\u2014such as Wout van Aert<\/a>\u2019s victory at Paris-Roubaix\u2014but also dedicates a video to the most miserable day of the year.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"jonas-vingegaard\"\/<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard crashed the day after a doping test at 2 a.m.<\/p>\n

Visma focus on 2026’s lows rather than highs”The Day Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> Crashed Out of the Tour de France” is the title of the video<\/a> that the Dutch team posted on YouTube on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It offers a glimpse into how the 15th stage of the race was experienced on the team bus, in the team car, and by the other riders.<\/p>\n

Visma were motivated before Vingegaard’s Tour de France crash<\/p>\n

Ahead of the stage, which finished on the grueling Plateau de Solaison, there was still plenty of ambition despite the 4 minute 30 deficit to Tadej Poga\u010dar:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been looking forward to this for a long time. I know it\u2019s Stage 15 and that it\u2019s already been very tough, but I think that day is really where we as a team can make a difference,\u201d said Head of Racing Marc Reef.<\/p>\n

“What we want to do: we want to win the stage, we want to go for it, we want to fight for it, and in doing so, we also want to gain time on our rivals,” he said.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard had already spotted some cracks in Poga\u010dar’s armour. “I had the feeling that he wasn’t entirely comfortable yesterday (in Stage 14, ed.). This climb suits me best in the Tour de France.”<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"tadej-pogacar-jonas-vingegaard-2\"\/<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar in the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

Vingegaard was feeling good before his setback\u00a0in the Tour de France<\/p>\n

And so Visma | Lease a Bike took control, right up until that fateful moment at a roundabout heading toward Plateau de Solaison.<\/p>\n

It was immediately clear that Vingegaard couldn\u2019t continue, which was also communicated by the team car. \u201cDamn it,\u201d team director Frans Maassen snorted repeatedly, before instructing Matteo Jorgenson to \u201cjust\u201d keep going.<\/p>\n

Next, we see Vingegaard standing in the bus with his broken collarbone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a shame. We spend most of the year training at the top of a mountain, weighing all our food… and then you come to the Tour, ride 15 stages, and it\u2019s over. It\u2019s mentally tough to accept things like this,\u201d – Matteo Jorgenson after stage 15<\/p>\n

Vingegaard discussed it with the American and Marc Reef while Jorgenson was getting a massage. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to say now, but I think I could have won today,\u201d the Dane said before heading home. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to unwind now. I needed that anyway, and then we\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team leader of Visma | Lease a Bike did not race again for the remainder of 2026. Meanwhile, the route for the 2027 Tour de France has already been announced<\/a>, which may not be entirely suited to Vingegaard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re already well into October, which means it\u2019s time for the traditional look back at the cycling season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,9046,133220,101,56,54,55,45702,8783],"class_list":["post-819489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-latest-cycling-news","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-visma-lease-a-bike","tag-wout-van-aert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}