"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
Cycling
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.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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