Visma DS Merijn Zeeman confirms great risk of Jonas Vingegaard missing Tour de France: "He is still in the hospital"
CyclingTuesday, 09 April 2024 at 09:52
Team Visma | Lease a Bike ended today their cobbled classics campaign without a noteworthy result, a consequence of many injuries and illnesses that have affected them over the past month. But the situation may get worst; DS Merijn Zeeman confirms that Wout van Aert is on a tight schedule to race the Giro d'Italia and Jonas Vingegaard's chances of missing the Tour de France are growing.
“I received an update today from Jonas Vingegaard's wife about how he is doing. Relatively a little better each day, but he is still in the hospital. That says enough," team DS Merijn Zeeman, recently confirmed to leave the team at the end of the season, confirmed in words to Het Nieuwsblad. "At the moment, Jonas is not thinking about whether he will make it to the Tour or not."
The schedule is not yet tight. The Grand Boucle is still over two and a half months away, but it is a difficult journey that Vingegaard has to traverse. Assuming that he will recover to full health, this will take require at least a few weeks, likely over a month to be able to cycle normally once again after suffering a broken collarbone, several ribs and a punctured lung. It is a traumatic list of injuries that he suffered in the horrific mass crash that took place at Itzulia Basque Country. The Dane has not yet left the hospital at the moment.
His run-up to the Tour will be changed that is already a certainty, but his participation as the defending champion itself is in doubt. “Jonas only goes to the Tour if he is one hundred percent. The first part of his possible Tour preparation will be canceled anyway. Jonas will certainly miss the altitude training camp on the Sierra Nevada from May 6," Zeeman already anticipates. "If he goes to the Tour, we will have to do it via a different route. If it doesn't work, we'll have to come up with a different scenario.” The Dane was expected to follow his traditional run-up to the Tour with altitude, Criterium du Dauphiné... At the time being there is no definition on when he will return to competition.
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But he is not the only one. Wout van Aert is still off the bike for the time being as well, as his plan of riding the Giro d'Italia is also still far from secure - besides the point that reaching it with good form is virtually confirmed not to happen. But if the Belgian is not capable of getting back on the bike over the coming two weeks, the Corsa Rosa will surely be erased from his schedule.
“It's starting to get very short notice for Wout and the Giro. This week we hope to gain insight into what is possible for Wout and what is not," Zeeman tells. "One thing is clear. When he starts in the Giro, it is at one hundred percent. You don't send a rider like that to a big tour just to ride along."
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- The handbags are already out aren't they? Let's see who pulls for who.Renz07-05-2025
- "I think they forgot last year, and when Jonas was injured," and I think you forgot 2023 L-B-L, when Tadej was injured and had to improvise a training without bike. Tadej only could riding a "normal" bike again only 2 weeks before the Tour. That TT he couldn't knowing well at all.
maria2024202407-05-2025 - It's unfortunate a rider of his caliber hasn't won the Tour de France and I can't fault him for trying, in fact, I respect it. But he never will win the Tour as long as Tadej and Jonas are in the peloton, and we might as well add Remco to that list as he is the youngest and seems to be coming up quickly behind Tadej and Jonas. I hope Primoz can capture another Giro and maybe another Vuelta before he calls it a day.awp07-05-2025
- "He breaks the conventions we once held", yeah, Tadej es disruptive, unique. Perhaps because he doesn't come from a family/country with tradition in cycling, so the "laws" of cycling were unknown to him and he was just looking/seeking to have fun. Traditions are beautiful but sometimes can be limiting.maria2024202407-05-2025
- I'd win so much money off Blythe on this one!bobo07-05-2025
- "The Giro d'Italia 2024 saw a strong increase in audience figures across RAI networks, especially on Rai2 and RaiSport HD. The race also experienced a significant boost in online engagement, with record numbers of website visitors, video views, and media articles. The event reached over 700 million viewers worldwide...." Sorry, but Pogacar is boring only for ... envious? ex-riders.maria2024202406-05-2025
- It's always the way in pro cycling - 1 rider wins and the rest,instead of working with each other to topple the better rider, they ride behind said rider collecting scraps that're left...
leedorney06-05-2025 - Better for the Giro? I'm sure viewers would rather see Tadej dominate the Giro from day 1, than see Van Hooydonck (if he were still racing for Visma) battle it out with whoever, maybe Uidtjebroeks (if he was in the Visma lineup).. pun not intended ,for the maglia rosa in the 21-day race.. A grand tour is not like a horse race. People want to see Tadej, Jonas, Remco, Primoz, MVDP, Van Aert etc... If not, I'll just watch the Tour of California.FredMan06-05-2025
- Respect to Caleb Ewan for making the decision to bow out of professional cycling. He's the only one that's knows what's best for him at this point in his life, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
santiagobenites06-05-2025 - Yeah, a big one 😁
DareDevil06-05-2025
Who's editing this? "...get worst..."?? I know you gotta publish quickly, but c'mon, this is sentence number two of the article.
So, you’re new here? It’s gonna get tough for you if you’re pedantic about writing.
I can live with most of it seeing as they do quite a good job at collecting stuff and providing it for free without too much publicity destroying the experience.
Makes a change from the likes of CN which not only kind of forces you to subscribe, half the content they provide is basically publicity.
Just enjoy the cock ups and remember, many of the contributors are not native English and are not targeting a US, UK or Anglo audience but an international one who have English in common.
If you want your language to be the international one, don’t moan too much that others don’t use it perfectly even when they can often do the same in 3 or more which very few native English speakers can.
Well, since he only made 1 comment... It is been over a month since he made that comment... Maybe he is a lurker after all?
Are you new? Only newbies of Betty Crocker's bakery would say this
Even if he starts the Tour his form will be greatly lacking. I would shoot for the Vuelta this year but it's up to his team to figure that out.
From Jonas's injury to TdF there are 3 months. He will be fine but under-prepared (just like Pogi last year: Tadej had a minor injury but only 2 months to recovery). Then it will be a fabulous TdF 2024 with Jonas and Tadej, but with inverted roles, this time the under-prepared will be Jonas.
I think you are basing most of this on wishful thinking, just like we were all hoping to see the 5 of them battling it out in top form but you are being unrealistic from a medical point of view, for that you need to understand the obstacles to returning to fitness in BOTH situations. It’s not because you saw one person recover fast from one set of injuries that you can assume a second person will recover similarly from completely different injuries.
A fractured wrist does not at all stop you from continuing to stay fit on a fixed bike indoors for ex.
Fixing ribs is hard enough with lungs working hard that will keep moving them when they’re trying to set but breathing with a punctured lung is a no go, it cannot repair itself if you keep blowing up and deflating your balloon so unless someone invents an easily removable throat bypass so Jonas could divert all his breathing to the other lung whilst the broken one repairs itself and it wouldn’t make him vomit, he’s starting with a significant amount of downtime from training, which was not Tadej case.
Not punctured lung, but collapsed lung (very different). Plenty collapsed lung recovery takes 1-2 weeks. Tadej recommenced to ride in bike only 2 weeks before TdF.
Outdoors!
And you should update sometimes if you’re interested, they were not finished with surgical intervention due to internal bleeding and latest diagnosis is for the worse.
Because Google doesn’t make it easy enough:
Update 2
This Friday morning the Dutch team have issued another update on social media, confirming that besides the previously reported injuries, the Tour de France champion has also suffered a pulmonary contusion and a pneumothorax - more commonly known as a punctured lung.
And so we’re clear, breathing can be very painful for weeks so forget elite exercise of any kind.
Why are you so insistent on downplaying what his DS and doctors say, did you place bets on the TdF which become invalid if he doesn’t participate?
We have even less influence on how this plays out than beer throwing spectators so let’s now wait and see if you get lucky enough for a rematch but it almost seems like it’s more important for you than for Tadej himself.
Please let me know where you look for information.
A pneumothorax (collapsed lung) happens when there’s air in the space between your chest wall and your lung (pleural space). Air in the pleural space can build up and press against your lung, causing it to partially or fully collapse. Pneumothorax is also called a punctured lung.
Sorry, I had this, I know what I’m talking about.
More than one week before the start he said he’d already been riding at least 2 weeks which included 2 altitude camps.
He also said he was riding indoors already a week after the fracture (as I suggested was perfectly imaginable), most likely sometimes in a room able to simulate altitude.
And, that he felt the forced break had helped him, he’s still more prone to overdo things than MvdP and WVA, aging has its benefits ;-)
TP and JV are 2 completely different types, not interchangeable, expecting one to do things the way the other did for our enjoyment is a bit Einsteinian.
We’re all hoping for it but let’s also stay realistic.
Still require surgery though. Look at the most recent article about Jonas' injuries
Still any lung injuries is certainly far from fun
Why risking further injuries, for TDF overall win?
One word, "Money". I don't see him racing the Tour though as his form is going to be lacking, I don't want to see him at the Tour when he's not on his best form. It will come back, maybe he can race the Vuelta this year.
Money is always a factor but teams are also well aware of evaluating short term risky gains vs long term regular income.
Only a small percentage of cycling fans would enjoy watching a TdF including an unfit leading contender anyway, attention would quickly move away to the others, at which point everyone has to ask the obvious question, what would be the point? Hoping all the other contenders crash out and you win unfit?
Yes, it is. But, why risking further injuries, when Jonas is out of form?
Vingegaard fans have said that it didn’t matter when Pogacar was injured, that Vingegaard would have won anyway. Pogacar fans said he was injured, there was no way to train,and he got second while under prepared. I guess my point is that Vingegaard will likely do amazing things even if he’s under prepared, but it will take something truly special for him to win this year. These kinds of injuries are awful, and I hope he heals well and heals soon.
I had similar injuries but more complicated so needed 9 days of artificial coma, that meant restarting from really zero (lung exercises to reactivate breathing muscles, sitting out of the bed only 5 minutes day 1 to rebuild neck muscles (and it was impossible to keep my head still those 5 minutes, it was flopping over every 20-30 seconds.
I was in great form when I crashed, 3 months later I managed only good form but was already very happy to achieve that. I’m not optimistic for his winning chances, punctured lungs delay everything significantly.
Agreed😕🤕🤕
He didn't have "punctured lung" but collapsed lungs. It's very different. In 3 months, when TdF will start, he will be fine, obviously, under-prepared .
comparing yourself and your injuries to yellow jersey winner. 🤡 🤡 🤡
who’s you you you now?
Comparing injuries for the sake of it is a romantic Mel Gibson activity, if you would care to think past your vexed biais, this was in view of helping make informed estimates for recovery time with explanations what kind of steps prevent jumping on the roller and going at it again.
But, if you’re out to prove I’m that kind of guy, I can tell you how to get in direct touch with someone I guess you’d admire for an opinion, would that help you?
Imagine trolling a knowledgeable person online 🤦🏻
I understand, I got under his skin about something else a while ago he just wanted to get even, no hard feelings.
Me too
Hope he is back to 100% soon. Love to see him in the tour. But no point unless he is healthy and strong. He doesn’t need a TdF participation badge.
The guy is obviously very attached to his family, he’s not going to be pressured into this. He won’t take more risks or sacrifice his family life for one win less than his career will end up showing in the end.
One day (though it may already be so in pro cycling) some small kid is going to grow up with a dead or severely handicapped dad who didn’t know when to say no.
Fans are sometimes so obsessed with getting their « entertainment » they have absolutely no consideration for consequences, feelings, the persons and their decisions, worse than bosses sometimes.
Totally agree. Family and health should (and will) take priority for Jonas. I don't see him retiring just yet. But if he did he is already a legend.
He has a lovely Daughter at home, so the forced break likely will do him a greater good tbf
All of them, not so easy for a young couple with a child to have this life, luckily it’s only « temporarily » but you really need to find (part chance) the right kind of person, not many would be happy or willing to be in such a relationship.
Last year they had a clean sweep including a whole podium, this year they’ll be lucky to get anything. How fast things can change in this sport.
Yeah. In deed
That's cycling! You can be lucky one day, and then injured on the next! Sometimes luck is needed in cycling