Jonas Vingegaard’s Tour de France Participation Remains Uncertain
The Visma-Lease, a Bike team, has been adrift this season since its two winningest riders—Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert—have been on the injured list after horrific crashes in the early season. And now, team director Richard Plugge has said in an interview that Vingegaard may be out of commission longer than fans might hope.
In the Spanish magazine Revelo, Plugge gave an extensive interview about safety in cycling, the future of the sport from a business standpoint, and the fate of the team for this season—with or without Vingegaard as the team leader at the Tour.
Last week, Vingegaard returned to riding outside—a major hurdle after suffering a broken collarbone and fractured ribs in the crash at Itzulia Basque Country. Plugge told Revelo that Vingegaard’s general health was the first hurdle to overcome, saying that “we had as a team was to assess whether Jonas could return to being a fully capable person… After a fall like the one he suffered, we have to be cautious and go day by day with his recovery.”
And while Vingegaard has returned to riding outdoors, the Tour de France starts in a mere six weeks. That’s a tight recovery window for a rider like Vingegaard, who’s considered one of the only racers capable of going head-to-head with Tadej Pogačar, who’s clearly in top form at the moment. It also means he’ll miss the team’s preparation camp at altitude ahead of the Tour, potentially impacting his ability to train as effectively as he normally would and not giving him much time to prepare with his teammates.
“It is clear that we contemplate two scenarios: one in which Jonas goes to the Tour and another in which he does not,” Plugge admitted to Revelo. “It all depends on his recovery. In the end, we cannot go to the Tour for Jonas to defend the title if he is not 100 percent. It’s something we’re not going to go through.”
He also noted that Van Aert is recovering well at the moment—his injuries in a crash eight days ahead of Vingegaard’s were less severe, though he still missed a significant chunk of the early season and has yet to return to racing. But even Van Aert may not be on the start line for Visma-Lease a Bike this year, Plugge said. (Here’s hoping that if Van Aert missed the Tour, he’ll be fresh for cyclocross season.)
Plugge also discussed the lack of safety in many races, citing many incidents in recent seasons where fans on the road created unsafe environments for racers and, in some cases, even caused serious crashes. As Plugge put it, “We have to protect the health of our athletes and our business… And we must take action as soon as possible.”
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