For Tour de France leader Jonas Vingegaard, Sunday's seemingly innocuous transition stage could not have been worse.

Vingegaard told reporters after the race that he and Tiesj Benoot suffered no more damage than a roadless road when they hit the deck in the middle of town, some 60 km from the line.

Roglič dropped out before the start of stage 15, and Kruijswijk crashed heavily and left the race in an ambulance. But the Vingegaard crash was another setback on a day that was worryingly close to the roof falling on Jumbo Visma, even if there were no long-term effects and they were able to rejoin the main group within 10 minutes. In answering just two questions at the main press conference, Vingegaard emphasized how eager he was to finish stage 15.

"As you said, they are two very important teammates and very, very strong riders. But I will keep fighting until Paris."

As for the actual consequences of the fall, he added: "I fell. I fell, but I was right back on my feet and I feel fine. Of course, I'm a little sore, but that's how it is after a crash."

Although Vingegaard did not give interviews to French television stations, commentators acknowledged that Vingegaard was walking normally, showing no signs of injury, as he passed them. A few minutes later, when speaking to the rest of the media, he was a bit more open-minded.

As for the fall itself, he said he was still not sure. All I know is that Teej fell right in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it," he said. I just hope Teej is okay. He had a worse fall than me.

Vingegaard declared that the most important result of the day was the loss of Roglic and Kruijswijk. He is now taking a rest day to recover from his injuries, but it will soon become clear how big a loss these two will be when they enter the Pyrenees on Tuesday for the first of three challenging stages.