Visma's Richard Plugge sincere about Jonas Vingegaard's Tour de France participation: "We can't go to the Tour for him to defend the title if he's not 100%"

Jonas Vingegaard's brutal crash at Itzulia Basque Country put his Tour de France defense at risk. However, the Dane, once released from hospital, confirmed his intention to recover to arrive at the Grande Boucle to defend his title won in the last two editions. However not everyone within Team Visma | Lease a Bike is on the same page regarding how he needs to be to race the Tour.

In an interview with Relevo, Richard Plugge, director of Visma - Lease a Bike, assures that the Dutch team will not take any risk if they see that their rider is not in top form. "Right now we contemplate two scenarios depending on his recovery: the first is with Jonas going to the Tour, and the second is not. In the end, we can't go to the Tour for him to defend the title if he's not 100%. It's something we're not going to go through," Plugge explained when asked if Visma had a 'plan B' to face the Grande Boucle without its superstar.

In case Jonas Vingegaard cannot compete against Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and we will see if Remco Evenepoel - who is also training to be in top form for the Tour after his injury in the Itzulia - Visma - Lease a Bike could opt to take a Wout van Aert who had planned to lead the Dutch team in the Giro d'Italia alongside Olav Kooij and Cian Uitjdebroeks.

However, his injury at Dwars door Vlaanderen, eight days before Vingegaard's injury in the Basque Country, left him out of his main goals for the first part of the season. That's why the Belgian has a chance to become Visma's priority at the Tour de France.

"Wout has the advantage that he's a little bit ahead in recovery, so physically we think he could be, but we have to wait," Plugge also confirms. "We haven't sat down with him yet to talk about his schedule after the fall. We have to see if he sees himself in the Tour or not, and analyze all possible scenarios to decide."