Visma-Lease a Bike staff 'shaken' after team car attacked by 'intoxicated' spectators at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali
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Published 28/03/2026 at 19:27 GMT
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Visma-Lease a Bike's team car was attacked by a pair of "intoxicated" spectators at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, with one climbing on the roof and attempting to take a bike while the other punched the window on Stage 4 in Italy. The team fared better on the penultimate stage of Volta a Catalunya, where Jonas Vingegaard took victory and extended his GC lead.
'Amazing job' - Vingegaard praises team-mates after winning penultimate stage
Video credit: TNT Sports
A Visma-Lease a Bike team car was attacked by two "intoxicated" spectators during Stage 4 of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, leaving team staff ”shaken”.
In a statement on the team website, Visma reported one of the fans climbed onto the car and attempted to remove a bike from the roof while the other ”behaved very aggressively” towards those in the car.
The statement read: "During the fourth stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, an incident occurred involving two intoxicated supporters. One of them climbed onto the team car of Team Visma-Lease a Bike and attempted to remove a bike from the roof. The other supporter behaved very aggressively towards the occupants of the car."
A video posted on X from the vehicle behind showed one person on top of the car before it drove forward, with the other striking a window in response.
”We take this incident very seriously, as it put the safety of our colleagues at risk,” Visma managing director Richard Plugge said. ”Our staff on site immediately went to the police and also reported the incident to the race organisation.
”In the end, no equipment was stolen and no damage was caused. The colleagues in the car are okay, but understandably shaken.”
Ineos Grenadiers’ Axel Laurance sprinted to victory in Valdobbiadene, claiming his second stage of the race and retaking the general classification lead on bonus time from Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), who finished second on Stage 4.
On a day when the results on the road became the secondary priority for the team, Visma’s top rider was Anton Schiffer, the German finishing two places behind leading Brit Joe Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5).
Sunday’s final stage is similarly hilly and will see Laurance look to defend his slender lead over Schmid, while Visma have two riders in a large pack 20 seconds back.
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- Merckx hails 'best in the world' Pogacar but shuts down 'unimaginable' comparisons
Vingegaard salutes 'good day' after second stage win
In better news for Visma, Jonas Vingegaard won his second successive stage in Volta a Catalunya and extended his GC lead to 1’22”.
After beating Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) by almost a minute on Friday, Vingegaard attacked Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with 2.2km to go on Stage 6 and finished 10 seconds ahead of the pair.
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Highlights: Dominant Vingegaard secures back-to-back wins in penultimate stage
Video credit: TNT Sports
Vingegaard said: ”In the last downhill Red Bull put some pressure on, luckily I was up there in the group starting the last climb and from there it was a battle between six guys.
”I still had legs for an attack and that is what I did, in that moment I was able to drop the other guys from my wheel. It was a good day.”
So Vingegaard takes a comfortable lead into the final stage on Sunday, a tour of Barcelona followed by seven laps of the traditional short, sharp circuit around Montjuic, where the Olympic park from the 1992 Games is located.
”Maybe it is not the kind of stage that suits me the best so the main focus will be to keep the leader’s jersey,” Vingegaard added.
”Of course if you can win another stage that would be nice but that is not going to be the main goal.”
Watch all the best cycling action including the Volta a Catalunya live and on-demand on TNT Sports and HBO Max
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