Jonas Vingegaard: "This was certainly the toughest period of my career. Making the Tour de France now feels like a great victory"

It has now been almost three months since Jonas Vingegaard's crash at Itzulia Basque Country, but the Dane has made it to Florence and the Tour de France. What the defending champion can achieve in his attempt to win a third Tour however is an unknown, not only to cycling fans all round but to him as well.

“This was certainly the toughest period of my career. Making the Tour de France now feels like a great victory. In the past few weeks, there were moments every day when I was convinced that it was doable, but every day there were just as many moments when I absolutely no longer believed in it," Vingegaard told Wielerflits. “You actually work from chapter to chapter. First you try to be able to cycle indoors on the exercise bike again. Then you strive to be able to ride outside again. Then you work towards your first really serious training. After all, the goal was to rejoin the team at the altitude training camp in Tignes.”

Vingegaard has not been in public much since his fall and so yesterday's presence at the team presentation was a fresh sight. He resumed training only in May, a month after sustaining injuries that included a punctured lung, fractured ribs and collarbone; and from late May onwards took on an altitude training camp in Tignes together with Team Visma | Lease a Bike where he worked on his form as best as possible.

“From that moment on, I focused on getting back as a cyclist. It is better to want to look ahead again than to feel sorry for yourself. In consultation with the team, we made a good plan. That was my support... I was in bed for almost two weeks, that does no body any good," he admits. "I don’t have to explain to anyone how your fitness and muscles are broken down. I had to regain all those things. No one can tell me what the consequences of the fall and the long illness will be for the long term. Maybe I can improve during the Tour. That’s what I’m holding on to.”

Mixed signals from the Visma camp don't assure that the Dane has or will put out his best climbing numbers throughout this race, but the team has reinforced it's commitment to a sole leader in the fight for the overall classification. “I am going for the best possible result. What that is? I have no idea. In a way, every improvement from now on feels like an extra gain," he adds.

“At least that’s what I want to go for. What is feasible? I really don’t know. I’m not in the right shape. Again, from this moment on everything is a bonus. I hope that it can work out in the coming weeks. I am grateful to the team, but certainly also to my family, for the way they supported me on the way to being here again.”