Another blow to Visma’s Tour ambitions?
If he fails to become fit for the Tour, it would be another blow to Jonas Vingegaard’s ambition to beat arch-nemesis Tadej Pogačar and complete the rare Giro-Tour double, which the Slovenian accomplished in 2024. The crash occurred 6 km into the 40.3 km race from Santuario di Vicoforte to Barolo, when a tyre reportedly blew off the rim, causing the bike to hit a guardrail at high speed.
Affini was transported by ambulance to a hospital in Mondovì. A statement by Visma later said that hospital X-rays and CT scans showed no broken bones, which was a major relief considering the violence of the crash and the fact that it would have ruled him out from riding the Tour. However, he did sustain a deep gash in his groin, which required internal and external stitches to close. As a result, the team kept Bart Lemmen out of Sunday’s Dutch Road Race Championships in Nijmegen in case he had to replace Affini in the Tour.
Last year, in his first Tour de France with Visma, Affini played an important role in positioning Vingegaard in the peloton while riding through potentially hazardous situations and keeping him safe during the chaotic final kilometres of a bunch sprint. He is meant to play the same role this year and would also be an essential part of the team’s time trial squad for the important stage 1 TTT on July 4 in Barcelona.
If Affini is unable to ride, it would be the team’s third major loss from the Tour squad after the loss due to injury of Christophe Laporte earlier in the year and Wout van Aert during the recent Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes.
Ganna and Milan win national titles
In actual racing news, to no one’s astonishment, Filippo Ganna (Netcompany INEOS) won the Italian National Time Trial Championship by more than 2 minutes. It was the seventh national ITT title of his career. Luca Giaimi (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) finished second, at 2:07, with Mattia Cattaneo (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) coming third, 2:36 adrift.
Lidl-Trek’s powerful sprinter Jonathan Milan won Saturday’s Italian National Road Race Championship, beating Tommaso Dati (Team UKYO) and Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) with a typical powerful, long-range burst of speed. It was a welcome change of fortune for the 25-year-old Milan, who had a disappointing Giro d’Italia, where he was soundly beaten in the points classification by 22-year-old Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) and did not win a stage in his home Grand Tour until the final day in Rome. This was Milan’s first national championship win.
Groupama rules France
The French National Road Race Championships were a clean sweep for Groupama–FDJ United, with 23-year-old Romain Grégoire winning the road race, for his first national title, and Rémi Cavagna taking the time trial. In 2025, Grégoire had finished second in the event, outkicked at the line by sprinter Dorion Godon, then racing for Decathlon Ag2R La Mondiale (now Netcompany INEOS). But Sunday’s 225.5 km course, which began and ended in La Tour-du-Pin, was a puncheur’s delight consisting of 14½ circuits and 29 short, punchy climbs.
Grégoire broke away from a six-rider lead group on the last of those ascents, with 3.2 km left to ride, and soon had an irresistible gap. He beat Paul Lapeira (Decathlon CMA CGM) by 13 seconds, with Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies) coming third, at 14 seconds.
In Thursday’s time trial, Cavagna beat defending and three-time champion Bruno Amirail (Visma–Lease a Bike) by a whopping 48 seconds, with his 23-year-old Groupama teammate Ewen Costiou finishing third, at 1:03. It was the fourth national championship title for Cavagna, as he won the ITT in 2020 and 2023 and the road race championships in 2021.
Lots of no-shows in Belgium
Sunday’s Belgian National Road Race Championship suffered from its proximity in time to the Tour de France, with numerous riders, including Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe), reportedlypulling out with certified medical excuses. Participation at the Belgian national championships is mandatory, hence the need for a doctor’s note. In addition to Evenepoel, the missing included Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike), who is actually injured, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), Tiesj Benoot (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Evenepoel’s teammate Maxim Van Gils.
For the record, Rune Herregodts (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) was the surprise winner of the road race title, outsprinting Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin–Premier Tech) and Fabio van den Bossche (Soudal Quick-Step) to take the biggest win of his career. Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) won Friday’s ITT championship race, beating last year’s Belgian road race champion, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates–XRG), by 6 seconds, with Segaert’s teammate Vlad Van Mechelen coming third, 14 seconds adrift. The course had been shortened to 20.7 km due to the intense heat.
