Relief for Vingegaard as Affini passed fit to start Tour for Visma

Edoardo Affini is set to start the Tour de France despite his heavy crash in the time trial at the Italian Championships last week.

Although Affini sustained no fractures in the crash, Tuttobici reported that he suffered “a deep laceration to the groin requiring both internal and external stitches,” which left his Tour participation in doubt.

In a short statement on Tuesday morning, Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed that Affini had been passed fit to start the Tour this weekend.

“Edoardo Affini has been given the green light to travel to Barcelona and will start the 2026 Tour de France as planned,” read the Visma statement.

Affini will thus line up for his second Tour on Saturday, and Visma will count on him to serve as Jonas Vingegaard’s bodyguard on the flat stages.

“He can take a leader in the back pocket, and he makes sure that Jonas is all the time where he needs to be,” head sports director Marc Reef said. “He takes care of him.”

The confirmation of Affini’s fitness will come as a relief to Visma, who were already forced to make adjustments to their Tour plans after Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte were both forced out by the effects of training crashes.

Visma will start the Tour with no fewer than four riders who lined out at last month’s Giro d’Italia, with the pink jersey Vingegaard joined by Davide Piganzoli, Sepp Kuss and Victor Campenaerts. The line-up is completed by Matteo Jorgenson, Per Strand Hagenes, Bruno Armirail and Affini.

Vingegaard is chasing a third overall victory after his triumphs of 2022 and 2023, and he is also seeking to emulate his rival Tadej Pogačar by completing the Giro-Tour double.