"With young riders it is often about lifestyle" - Visma coach attempts to explain Jonas Vingegaard's development in recent years

Bursting onto the scene in recent years, Jonas Vingegaard has quickly become the number one Grand Tour general classification rider in the peloton. His coach Tim Heemskerk, has recently opened up about the Dane's rapid rise.

"With young riders it is often about lifestyle. Questions like: do you always train at the same time, or do you sometimes train in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon? Those are important. It's also about what you do around training. Learning to take care of yourself," Heemskerk tells Wielerrevue about the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader. "Everything on the recovery side often goes less smoothly for young riders."

One of the ways Vingegaard's development was helped was by him leaving Denmark believes Heemskerk. "At the beginning of his career, Jonas thought he could prepare well in Denmark," he explains. "I saw that he could be good, and that improvement would be in details. I started encouraging him to train abroad more. Now he has different training locations during the season. He has come to realize that in a different climate he is even more capable of delivering better training work and can therefore prepare better."

With two Tour de France victories to his name and runner-up finishes at both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana, it's fair to say, whatever Heemskerk is doing with Vingegaard, is working.

"We found out that he can still achieve peak powers during training even at the end of matches. And even in a three-week competition. That sets him apart from others. It shows almost no decay. In addition, it can also do this at high altitudes and in the heat," he analyses. "And the fact that he succeeds has everything to do with preparation. With long altitude training periods. Jonas works hard for that. These internships abroad provided an extra step. He is now someone who adapts extremely quickly to different circumstances. Those growth margins are becoming smaller, but there is always room for improvement."