'This is a huge disappointment' - Christophe Laporte shifts focus from Tour de France to 'full recovery' from quadriceps tear in training crash

For a second year in a row, Christophe Laporte will not start the Tour de France, this time due to an injury suffered in a crash during training.

Visma-Lease a Bike put out a statement on Thursday stating that the Olympic Games road race bronze medalist and former European road champion tore a quadriceps muscle and will need extended time to heal his leg.

There was not confirmation if surgery was required, but the team confirmed he would "not be allowed to train in the coming weeks in order to fully recover from the injury".

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Due to time off the bike and a rehabilitation process, Laporte was also taken off the roster for Tour de l’Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (formerly Critérium du Dauphiné) in mid-June, a traditional preparatory event for the Tour de France.

“Obviously, this is a huge disappointment. I had a strong Spring Classics campaign and was ready to start preparing for the Tour de France," the 33-year-old said in a team 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.”

The French rider has started his home Grand Tour 10 times, winning a stage in 2022. He began 2026 with a victory on the opening day of Vuelta a Andalucía, but crashed out of the race on the final stage. He then finished fourth at Omloop Nieuwsblad, and led out Matthew Brennan to victory at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

He pulled out of Ename Samyn Classic, the team saying he was not "100% fit", which was an echo of fatigue due to cytomegalovirus that disrupted his 2025 season. But after two weeks away from racing, he returned at Milan-San Remo with 16th, and then back in top form with a string of five top 10s, including third at In Flanders Fields and fifth at Paris-Roubaix.

Laporte did not start last season until August, missing the entire spring and summer with effects from the virus. He did finish the year strong, second at Paris-Tours and tops at Tour of Holland with the GC win.

The on-again, off-again struggles to be part of the Visma squad in races casts a shadow on a five-year term with the WorldTour team that is set to expire at the end of this season.

The veteran Grand Tour rider was set to support Jonas Vingegaard at this year's Tour. Other riders on the roster to support Vingegaard who could also contest flat stages for wins are Edoardo Affini and Wout van Aert.

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