Whilst Vingegaard may have a more limited calendar than the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, who combine their Grand Tour goals with a Spring Classics campaign, Trine explains how her husband is still often away from home, sent by Visma to train at altitude, away from his young family. “Jonas doesn’t recharge on another three-week altitude camp with the team," she stresses. "He needs to be at home in Denmark, with us, to feel truly himself.”
“He’s deeply attached to his routines. Sometimes he needs to reset in the calmest surroundings possible, just with his family," Trine adds. "That’s a huge part of who he is and why he’s successful.”
And sometimes, even when Vingegaard is at home with Trine and the family, Visma still manage to cause a stir in the household. “At one point, we decided to renovate the house together," recalls the two-time
Tour de France winner's wife. "Jonas realised he could rip out a kitchen, install a new one and lay down wooden flooring. The team wasn’t too pleased about that.”
In a separate, and equally eye-opening interview with Jyllands-Posten, Trine Vingegaard Hansen's criticism of her husband's team and their handling of the rider continues. She recalls one moment in particular that caused her fury when Vingegaard abandoned Paris-Nice through a concussion. “Everyone on the team knows we – his family – only heard about it through the television. It’s just bad form not to send a message to let us know he’s okay. I simply can’t understand it,” she says.
“With two children, he does feel he’s missing out on life at home. That has to be weighed against the joy he gets from cycling," Trine concludes. "In many ways, the countdown to the end of his career began when we had our first child.”