Jonas Vingegaard remains Visma's plan A for Tour de France but Olav Kooij ready if needed: "If things turn out differently, I will be ready”
Cycling
How Team Visma | Lease a Bike will look going into the Tour de France remains a complete mystery, even to those within the team. Olav Kooij starred in his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia before being forced out through illness and if Jonas Vingegaard can't make it, the Dutch sprinter could provide a backup option.
Speaking to Wielerflits after making his return to racing for the first time since winning stage 9 of the 2024 Giro d'Italia at the Baloise Belgium Tour, Kooij admits it's unlikely he'll be leading Team Visma | Lease a Bike for a second successive Grand Tour, but he will nevertheless ensure he is ready on the off chance he is required to save the day for the team.
Read also
“I think there are other scenarios more obvious than me going to the Tour,” Kooij laughs. “Everyone knows that there are still question marks surrounding the selection of the team. Based on that and the choices that are made, perhaps my name will be mentioned again. But I don't think it's the most obvious scenario. You never know. It is up to me to be fit again and to be at the same level here again. So that if things turn out differently, I will still be ready.”
According to the latest reports, Vingegaard retains a 50-50 chance of returning to the Tour de France. With the likes of Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte, Dylan van Baarle, Steven Kruijswijk and other Team Visma | Lease a Bike riders all having crashed or recovering from crashes recently, the sheer lack of numbers may eventually force Kooij's Tour de France debut at the end of this month.
“I think every rider would like to start in the Tour, including me,” the 22-year-old sprint prodigy concludes. “If the team does call me for that, that will be great for everyone and for me.”
Read also
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- “During a TT, I am basically blind”. That was his quote after crashing into the barriers in a TT. The problem isn’t the UCI, radios or air bags. The problem is the riders and their teams.JoeyB22-12-2024
- I think you overestimate scientific knowledge and for sure the spreading of it. There are huge numbers of people in similar situations, if there were an easy solution somebody would be making big money out of it. Nerve pain can have many complex origins or be due to complex combinations of reasons. Even if you discover a reason there is not always a solution. Migraines haven’t been solved either. I have had lower back/hip nerve pains on and off for over 30 years, no kind of doctor has ever found a way to reduce, prevent or solve the problem. It may just be that some people are born with nerves that are too short or get twisted out of position during certain movements.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- Amazing ride by her and very promising for her future. On a side note, it’s a bit worrying all these wins riders have after emotional moments in their lives, someone will come up with emotional doping at some point. Maybe give them fake news just before a big race to get hormones pumping.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- I doubt he will have the energy to do that if he continues to do leadout for Phillipsenabstractengineer22-12-2024
- I know several people who’ve tried contacting sport airbag manufacturers and none of them ever got a reply. Might be hard to organise anything with such attitudes.Mistermaumau22-12-2024
- It's the BBC. Who cares outside of little Britain.leodis22-12-2024
- Crawl back under your stone.leodis22-12-2024
- Thanks Dadmobk22-12-2024
- Hard to believe with the advancment of modern medicine he can not find a cause for this.frieders321-12-2024
- You continue to platform these two cheats. With that in mind I can no longer use your site. I know my leaving means little, but, sometimes you have to take a stand. See ya!DJ21-12-2024