Laporte ruled out of Tour de France due to training crash

Christophe Laporte has suffered a quadriceps muscle tear after a crash during training, which will sideline the Frenchman from his key summer objectives. 

Visma | Lease a Bike have confirmed that as a result of his injury, Laporte will miss both the Tour de l’Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Tour de France, marking a blow for Jonas Vingegaard and the Dutch team. 

Laporte was part of a provisional list of names in contention for Visma's Tour squad, including Vingegaard, Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Bruno Armirail, Victor Campenaerts, Sepp Kuss, Ben Tulett, and Edoardo Affini.

Last year. Laporte was ruled out for the majority of 2025 due to a cytomegalovirus infection, starting his first race of the season in mid-August at the ADAC Cyclassics in Germany. Upon his return to racing, Laporte won the NIBC Tour of Holland last October and enjoyed a strong start to 2026. 

Laporte began his 2026 season with a win on the opening stage at the Vuelta a Andalucia before a consistent spring campaign, which started with 4th place at Omloop Nieuwsblad before being key to Matthew Brennan's Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne success. 

Laporte then finished 7th at E3 Saxo Classic, 3rd at Gent-Wevelgem, 7th at Dwars door Vlaanderen, 9th at the Tour of Flanders, and 5th at Paris-Roubaix in support of Van Aert, who was victorious.

“Obviously, this is a huge disappointment. I had a strong spring classics campaign and was ready to start preparing for the Tour de France,” said Laporte in an official statement. 

“Of course, I was really looking forward to the upcoming races, especially the Tour de France. Right now, the focus is fully on recovery so I can come back as soon as possible,” added Laporte. 

Visma | Lease a Bike have confirmed that Laporte will spend the next few weeks focusing on his recovery and a careful rehabilitation process.