"She could be a mental coach for many": Jonas Vingegaard praises his wife Trine for being his greatest supporter

Sometimes, pressure can be crushing in the highly performance-oriented sports such as road cycling. Team leaders, sponsors, fans and media all come to the sport's greatest stars with high expectations and the weight of these hopes can become too much for one too handle. As a winner of three Grand Tours, Jonas Vingegaard knows his share about the challenges professional cycling carries, not just physical, but also mental.

"It's definitely mentally challenging. It takes a lot to be a cyclist these days," he told Feltet among others during a sponsor event. "There are a lot of training camps and time away from home. The Tour is getting bigger and bigger, and there's more pressure from the team, but also from the media and everything around. So I don't think we'll see careers like (Alejandro) Valverde's anymore."

Some sportsmen seek the advice of mental coaches to relieve some of the pressure from their surroundings. But Vingegaard explains those experts could not do much for him. What helps the Dane to keep composure when things don't go as planned? It's the simple things. His life out of cycling and, above all, his wife Trine Vingegaard who is not only his life-long partner, but also confessor and counselor at hard times.

"My wife, Trine, is good at understanding people. I would go so far as to say that she can be a mental coach for many," Vingegaard does not skimp on praise of his spouse. "She is good at understanding people. Often it's just about getting rid of something, and then you feel better. That's how it is for me too. When I'm stressed, I need to talk about it and get rid of what's frustrating me."