"Sacrifices have to be made if you want to win the biggest bike race in the world" - Visma respond to criticism from Jonas Vingegaard's wife

Jonas Vingegaard's quest to reclaim the Maillot Jaune at the 2025 Tour de France was given something of an unnecessary distraction on Sunday afternoon, after an explosive interview with Vingegaard's wife Trine dropped in the Danish media, highly critical of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's handling of her husband.

“Knowing Jonas as I do, I’d say the team (Visma, ed.) is pushing him too far now. I’m afraid he’s burning the candle at both ends," Trine Vingegaard Hansen tells Politiken in a blockbuster interview. "I think people sometimes forget the human being behind the athlete – and how to get the best out of him. It could all backfire.”  

In a separate interview with Jyllands-Posten, Trine also hinted Vingegaard's days in the peloton might be numbered. “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.”

In conversation with TV2 from the start line of stage 2, Team Visma | Lease a Bike and sports director Grischa Niermann have now responded to the criticism. “We have a really strong connection with Jonas, and we always sit down together to plan the season,” says Niermann. “But sacrifices have to be made if you want to win the biggest bike race in the world – Jonas knows that, and so does Trine. Perhaps it’s been a little exaggerated, but we have a good working relationship with both Jonas and Trine.”

With a Maillot Jaune up for grabs and still nearly three weeks of racing to go, the hope for Visma and Vingegaard will be that this public spat between his wife and his team won't distract too much from the racing and the fight for Yellow.