“Winning the Tour de France difficult but not impossible" for Jonas Vingegaard says Visma's Merijn Zeeman

In the immediate aftermath of his horror crash at the Itzulia Basque Country earlier this year, injuries such as a fractured collarbone, fractured rib(s) and a pneumothorax seemed to have completely ruled Jonas Vingegaard out of the Maillot Jaune fight for this summer.

Speaking to Wielerflits however, Team Visma | Lease a Bike's sports director, Merijn Zeeman seems quite optimistic that the Dane could yet defend his Tour de France crown this year. “Winning the Tour will be difficult for Jonas, but it is certainly not impossible,” he explains. “He is busy every day with his rehabilitation under the guidance of our medical staff and physiotherapists. We will certainly keep open the possibility that he will make it to the start of the Tour in Florence. Jonas is extremely talented and we know that he also recovers extremely quickly.”

With such a brutal series of injuries to recover from, Vingegaard has quite the task if he's to be at his best in time for the Tour de France though. “Every week we take stock. The medical staff cannot say much at the moment about the program he can follow in the coming period," Zeeman explains. "We have to wait and see, but we certainly still have hope that he can defend his Tour title.”

Neither Vingegaard nor teammate Wout van Aert will make the Team Visma | Lease a Bike training camp at Sierra Nevada however, which in turn means there will be no appearance at the Criterium du Dauphine. "The Dauphiné comes too early for Jonas, but that was never a real option after his heavy fall,” Zeeman says. “Does Jonas need the Dauphiné to be in good shape for the Tour? That's not necessarily necessary."

"The Dauphiné is certainly not a key race for Jonas towards the Tour. In 2021 he rode the Dauphiné after he was also recovering from an injury. Only in the last stage did he get through and finished second in that stage," Zeeman concludes. "I am convinced that with a good training block in that period, Jonas can also work on his form to arrive at the start of the Tour in top form.”