Tour de France Champion Jonas Vingegaard is Taken Out by Photographer

Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard was involved in a minor incident following Stage 16 of the race after a photographer obstructed his path at the summit of Mont Ventoux. The Danish rider fell after crossing the finish line.

“Some photographer just ran straight in front of me straight after the finish line. I don’t know what he was doing,” Vingegaard says per Reuters. “I went down. People in the finish area should use their eyes a bit more.”

Despite the fall, which there is no video of, Vingegaard did not appear injured. He finished the stage in second place, two seconds behind overall leader Tadej Pogacar, and remains in second in the general classification, four minutes and 15 seconds back.

Not the First Time

The Tour De France is a chaotic event where fans and media can get as close to the action as they want. It has caused multiple incidents over the years, including a huge pileup in 2023 caused by a selfie-taking fan.

There was a similar incident in 2021 as a fan posing for the camera tried to get her sign on TV.

The stage yesterday was won by France’s Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal-QuickStep, who narrowly edged Ireland’s Ben Healy in a sprint finish on Mont Ventoux. Vingegaard launched several attacks on the leader Pogacar but was unable to create a meaningful gap.

Last year, PetaPixel featured the work of Kristof Ramon, who is a full-time road cycling photographer.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.