The third stage of the Route d'Occitanie scheduled for today will be the last competitive engagement of Axel Zingle in this 2026. Once the brief French stage race concludes, the twenty-seven-year-old from Visma Lease a Bike, as he himself stated to DirectVelo in recent hours, will undergo surgical intervention to resolve a problem with his iliac artery and the operation, due to rather lengthy recovery times, will force him to bring down the curtain on his first season with the "hornets" ahead of schedule.

"The Route d'Occitanie is my last race of 2026. I will undergo surgical intervention that I absolutely must have done, I have no choice, and I will not be present at the French National Championships" revealed the former Cofidis rider to the French outlet.

"I will not race again this season. We're talking about an important operation [...] and the coming months will certainly be long, it's better not to rush things" explained Zingle, who hopes that once he has put this setback behind him, he will rediscover the pedal stroke of the recent past and in this way repay the confidence that Richard Plugge's team has placed in him at the beginning of 2025 by securing him with a three-year contract.

"I still have a year of contract left, but certainly I would like to do better than what I have done so far. The team also expects more from me, obviously. Since I've been part of this organization, I have struggled: you have to grit your teeth and hope that next year goes better" concluded with great honesty the winner of the Boucles de l'Aulne-Châteaulin 2024, a rider capable in the past of imposing himself and impressing repeatedly with puncheur qualities that, starting from 2027, he hopes to display again by regaining accolades and consideration.

As for this year, Zingle will have to be content with having brought home two podiums (the two third-place finishes achieved yesterday and the day before in France) and nine top-ten finishes overall for a final tally that, by the numbers, is the least profitable of his last five years.