Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard, second in the Tour de France general classification, has withdrawn from the race after crashing during the fifteenth stage, from Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison, due to a fractured right collarbone.

In the night before the stage, Vingegaard was subjected to a surprise anti-doping control around two in the morning. Shortly afterwards, race leader Tadej Pogacar was also tested. At the start of the stage, Vingegaard stated that it took him about forty minutes to complete the procedure and that he was unable to get back to sleep properly before one of the most demanding stages of the Tour. He expressed the view that controls are necessary but that interfering with riders' rest is not fair.

In the afternoon, about twenty-one kilometres from the finish, near Amancy, the leading group faced a change of direction. Vingegaard lost his balance, slid and crashed into the kerb. Isaac Del Toro, Felix Grosschartner and Sepp Kuss, Vingegaard's teammate, were also caught up in the incident. Pogacar avoided the crash.

Vingegaard, winner of the most recent Giro d'Italia, suffered a fractured right collarbone and a wound to the neck. Treated by the Tour ambulance and fitted with a brace, he immediately announced his withdrawal from the race.

The coincidence between the nighttime control, the reduced sleep and the subsequent crash has raised doubts, expressed by some commentators, about a possible correlation between fatigue from lost sleep and a lowered attention threshold. However, there is no objective confirmation of a causal link between the two events.

The stage was won by Remco Evenepoel, who outsprinted Pogacar and Del Toro. Evenepoel is second in the general classification, over five minutes behind Pogacar. Del Toro, third overall, took the white jersey for best young rider from French rider Paul Seixas.

Vingegaard's Visma team, without its captain, will face the final week of racing without a designated leader.