"It wasn't the most opportune moment" - Jonas Vingegaard not happy with the publication timing of his wife Trine's Tour de France interview

The Tour de France is the event that has the most media attention out of all in the world of cycling and this year, several big stories broke out just as the race began. Some of them, carefully planned. This was the case with a pre-recorded interview with Trine Hansen, Jonas Vingegaard's wife, which was published as the race began with criticism of how Team Visma | Lease a Bike were managing the rider.

At the time, Trine Hansen had said in an interview with Politiken that “knowing Jonas as I do, I’d say the team is pushing him too far now. I’m afraid he’s burning the candle at both ends [...] At one point, we decided to renovate the house together. Jonas realized he could rip out a kitchen, install a new one and lay down wooden flooring. The team wasn’t too pleased about that.”

The interview also mentioned the team's need to put the Dane as absolute priority, with his teammates in domestique roles for the race and not chasing their own stage results, hinting at Wout van Aert as well. Published at the start of the Tour, it naturally led to a lot of discourse.

This ultimately would've taken time and energy out of the riders and staff who were now not only dealing with an extremely demanding race and environment, but being questioned about topics discussed in this interview. Vingegaard brushed it aside at the time, dismissing its importance.

However it is quite clear that there wasn't a good reaction to the timing of the interview. Vingegaard has talked about his extensive racing and above all training schedule, which like most riders at the top level, requires many months away from home every year, but the article came out in a specific time for a reason.

"It wasn't the most opportune moment, but I'm good at putting things aside and not thinking about them too much," the Dane recently said to Ekstra Bladet. "As long as I know it doesn't affect our team, I can let it go and I don't have a problem with it at all". 

Vingegaard did ultimately put on a strong Tour and remained at his top level until the end, and then managed to balance both priorities before the Vuelta a España with a training camp in Annecy with his family before he went on to win the third Grand Tour of his career. In 2026, he is expected to follow another demanding calendar as he continues to look towards Tadej Pogacar and how to close the gap.