12/06/2024

Tim Heemskerk, Jonas Vingegaard's coach: "For me it's 50-50 whether Jonas makes it to Tour"

Tour de France is getting closer and closer to its start, and so the suspense continues to build around Jonas Vingegaard, who is still working to make up for the time he lost after his forced stop in the fall in the Itzulia Basque Country.

Tim Heemskerk, Jonas Vingegaard's coach, spoke to BT. "His level is good enough to be here and that's positive," he continued. "Over the next few days Jonas will continue to train on his own while the cyclists who have been taking part in the Critérium du Dauphiné recover, but next Thursday they will join us (in Tignes). It's very positive for Jonas that he can join the team."

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At the end of May Tim had already said that he hoped Vingegaard would join the team to train together for the Tour de France, but without putting too much pressure on the Dane. "It's exciting to see how his body will react to the difficult week of training he's had. The first week at altitude was all about adaptation and recovery. That was followed by a difficult week of training and now there's another. The most important thing is how he'll react to it all. Will he be able to cope? Will there be fatigue?"

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After raising some pertinent questions, Heemskerk says: "Next week and the week after are essential for the Tour. What's also important is that he has a feeling of 'wow, I'm getting more and more prepared.'"

Jonas Vingegaard has had a few days to recover, which will allow Tim Heemskerk to see how the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader reacts to the hard training he has been subjected to. The race against time for the Grand Depart in Florence on June 29 is winding down. "Jonas needs a few more weeks of training before we can say he's at the level he normally is for a Tour. There are things we can still improve. For me it's 50-50 whether Jonas makes it to Tour," he concluded.