The man behind Jonas Vingegaard's Tour de France preparation is unconcerned with lack of racing - "What Pogacar does does not influence our approach"

Tim Heemskerk is Jonas Vingegaard's coach and he has talked about the Dane's current position whilst preparing for the Tour de France. Whilst it would've been ideal not to have suffered an injury at Paris-Nice which cost him a lot of competition in the spring, he is not worried that this will later cost him at the Grand Boucle.

"We know that this approach works for him. Some people will say that racing less is a risk, but it has already worked for us," Vingeaard's coach Tim Heemskerg said in an interview with Velo. "We understand that people would rather see him racing more for the Tour de France, but we are making a plan that gives us a bigger chance in the most important period, which means the most to Jonas and all of us". Last year, despite the brutal injuries suffered at Itzulia Basque Country, in three months the Dane got himself back to great form which he used to finish second at the Tour and capture a stage win.

At the moment, we have a Vingegaard that is relaxed and does not have the pressure to race where he deems it to be unnecessary. "He wants to spend time with his family, to get away from the hustle and bustle of racing. We respect that. We think that Jonas is currently in a good situation to make this work. He was already in good shape in Paris-Nice, but not yet in Tour shape, because he had not yet been at altitude".

Now in May, after five weeks where he couldn't train to his full level due to the concussion that he suffered month and a half ago, he will go on an altitude camp, and then use the Criterium du Dauphiné as a warm-up towards the Tour. "If he is at altitude with the team in Sierra Nevada in May, we will get him to a high level. That program also worked in 2022 and 2023," Heemskerk argues. "We see more and more riders who perform well with only training, like Jonas in the Tour last year. But it is also important to race, with all the skills in the peloton that you cannot imitate in training". 

In the other side of the spectrum, Tadej Pogacar has been training for - and winning - one-day races. "What Pogacar does does not influence our approach," he adds directly. "We might analyze his qualities, but he can do almost anything, so there is no point in worrying about it. We control what we can control. We might have to make some adjustments after the Dauphiné, but with this training period and then Sierra Nevada we have a physical advantage over our rivals".

Vingegaard's coach however is not just confident, but believes the Dane is also in position to be stronger at the Tour than last year, where he put out some of his best-ever climbing performances: "In a few weeks he will be ahead of the schedule of previous seasons. He missed races, but took a lead in body weight towards an altitude training camp. We do not want to be in shape too early and although the Dauphiné will be an important analysis of Jonas and his competitors, we still have a lot of time in the three weeks after that. At altitude we want to make a small step".