It’s certainly been an eventful start to the Vuelta a España for Visma-Lease a Bike. On the road, the Dutch team are living up to their pre-race favourites billing, their two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard storming into an early overall lead after pipping Giulio Ciccone to the line at Limone Piemonte, the grand tour’s first summit finish, on Sunday.
However, the Vuelta’s Italian start hasn’t been all plain sailing for the Dutch squad. On Monday morning, Visma confirmed that 18 of the team’s bikes had been stolen from the grounds of their Turin hotel overnight, in the latest targeted raid by bike thieves on a WorldTour squad, and that their mechanics were “working hard” to ensure Vingegaard and his teammates were fully equipped for stage three.
And later on Monday morning, Visma also announced that Axel Zingle will not take to the start in San Maurizio Canavese this afternoon, thanks to the injuries sustained by the French rider during a tumultuous, and occasionally bizarre, second stage in northern Italy.
Zingle was one of four Visma-Lease a Bike riders, including Vingegaard, to crash at speed in treacherous conditions on a wet roundabout towards the end of Sunday’s stage. While his Danish leader, though bloodied, managed to recover well enough to win the stage and take the red jersey, Zingle wasn’t quite so lucky, the 26-year-old dislocating his shoulder.
In gruesome scenes captured by the TV cameras, Zingle’s shoulder, after quite a bit of preparation, was popped back into its socket with the help of the Vuelta’s medical staff and a car bonnet.
“I dislocated my shoulder, and they had to put it back in place before I could get going again,” Zingle told Eurosport after the stage. “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.”
The French rider, taking part in his first grand tour for Visma, eventually got back on his bike – before things took an even more bizarre turn.
While innocuously reaching for an energy gel from his team, Zingle dislocated his shoulder once again. He then headed to the race ambulance for his second shoulder relocation of the day, giving his Cervélo to what appeared to be a race official – only to exit the ambulance to find that his bike had vanished.
“Then something pretty funny happened,” he told reporters after the stage, obviously focusing on the positives from a tumultuous day.
“I reached for a gel and I dislocated my shoulder again, so I had to stop. 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, there was no more bike!”
Now stranded, Zingle was forced to wait “five to ten minutes” for his team car to appear with a spare bike.
“Turns out he had left with my bike, so I got a bit flustered, but, well, that’s how it was,” the French rider said.
> Bikes stolen from Visma-Lease a Bike truck in massive overnight raid at Vuelta a España
While Zingle’s post-stage comments sparked reports and rumours that his bike had been stolen by a roadside spectator (an ominous foreshadowing of the coming night’s events), Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed on Sunday night that his machine had, in fact, been placed by an official in the Vuelta’s broom wagon (the vehicle which follows the tail end of the race) due to a “misunderstanding”.
“We’ve seen news reports claiming Axel’s bike was stolen during the second stage. This is incorrect,” the team posted on social media. “After the crash in today’s finale, his bike ended up in the broom wagon, which was just a misunderstanding. The bike has been returned to the team.”
In any case, following that latest debacle, Zingle forged on to the finish, crossing the line in dead last and 24.05 behind his Visma leader Vingegaard.
“I don’t want to stop here,” Zingle said. “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.”
But despite his post-crash positivity, Zingle’s rollercoaster of a debut Vuelta would ultimately come to an abrupt end in Limone Piemonte, Visma confirming on Monday morning that the 26-year-old was not fit enough to start today’s undulating third stage.
“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. Heal up soon, Axel,” the team said.
Of course, despite Zingle’s inexperience when it comes to suffering a dislocated shoulder, they’re one of pro cycling’s most common injuries.
Notably, at last month’s Tour de France, Julian Alaphilippe popped his shoulder back in after crashing early on stage 15 to Carcassone.
The French star responded to his misfortune by characteristically attacking, joining the breakaway, and winning the sprint for third place – a performance overshadowed by his bizarre, jubilant celebration at the line, which the former double world champion later blamed on a broken race radio.
