"He is our most important rider" - Grischa Niermann reiterates Visma's full faith in Jonas Vingegaard's Tour de France chances

Jonas Vingegaard heads into 2025 with a point to prove. After two years where he reigned supreme at the Tour de France, the Danish leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike was overthrown by an unstoppable Tadej Pogacar in 2024. The question now is: Can Vingegaard close to gap to his great rival and reclaim the Maillot Jaune this summer?

According to those within the Team Visma | Lease a Bike set-up, there seems to be little doubt that Vingegaard can indeed regain his superiority over Pogacar at the 2025 Tour de France. "He is our most important rider, he has won the Tour de France twice, and it would not be good if we told him that we do not believe he can win the Tour again," says Visma's senior sports director Grischa Niermann in conversation with BT.dk. "It was especially important this year because we know that his preparations were far from optimal last year."

Speaking of those "far from optimal" preparations for the 2024 Tour de France, Vingegaard of course spent time in intensive care less than three months prior to the Grand Depart last year, following a horrific crash at the Itzulia Basque Country in April. Thanks in part to lingering effects of this crash, Vingegaard also ended his 2024 season early, giving the 28-year-old around six whole months to prepare for his 2025 kick off at the Volta ao Algarve.

"It was obvious that Jonas lacked explosiveness and sprint strength. That's exactly what he lost a lot of because of his crash," Visma's performance manager, Mathieu Heijboer says of Vingegaard's off-season work. "Rarely do you have the opportunity to really work on your weak points and other things. The biggest focus has been on getting stronger muscularly, because that's what he was missing a lot after the crash."

"Normally I'm never in the strength training centre," adds Vingegaard himself to BT. "I usually build muscle mass pretty quickly. But to try to regain some of what I lost last year, I've been doing some strength training."