Jonas Vingegaard and Wout Van Aert's participation in the Tour de France is still in doubt, according to their coaches at Visma Lease-a-Bike.
Both coaches said in separate interviews over the past few days that their chances of competing in the Grand Depart in Florence are about "fifty-fifty," and a spokesman for Visma Lease-a-Bike told Cycling News that the team's Tour selection A spokesman for Visma Lease-a-Bike told Cycling News that no decision has yet been made regarding the team's selection for the Tour.
Vingegaard suffered a punctured lung and fractured ribs and collarbone in a group crash at Iturria-Basque in April; the two-time Tour winner returned to training in Denmark in May and was later seen training in Mallorca.
Van Aat's classic campaign was interrupted by a major crash in the Dwar do Hlaanderen, resulting in fractures of the sternum, collarbone, and ribs. The injuries forced him to abandon his planned Giro d'Italia debut and he returned to competition at last month's Tour of Norway.
Vingegaard and Van Aert trained in Tignes last week with teammate Christophe Laporte. Yesterday, Matteo Jorgenson arrived at the French ski resort and was featured on his Instagram.
"For me, it's 50-50 whether Jonas will participate in the Tour," Tim Heemskerk, Vingegaard's coach, told the Danish newspaper BT.
Heemskerk had previously indicated that it was essential for Vingegaard to train with his teammates in Tignes in order to have any chance of making it to the Tour. While Vingegaard is currently on that schedule, Heemskerk stressed that the next two weeks are critical.
"In order to have any hope of making it to the Tour, he had to follow the program. The first week at altitude was about acclimatization and recovery." And now he just had a tough week. [The important thing is how he reacts to it. Can he handle it? Next week and the week after are critical for Tool. It's also important for him to get that feeling of "wow, he's getting more and more ready."
[16Van Aert initially planned to miss this year's Tour to focus on preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but a crash that forced him to miss the Giro changed his plans.
The Belgian's condition improved during the Tour of Norway, and he began training in Tignes on June 2, with Vingegaard joining him four days later. Van Aert is on Visma's long list for the Tour de France, but like Vingegaard, his participation is still uncertain.
"We want them to be at the start of the Tour, but they have to be competitive," Van Aert's coach, Mathieu Heyboer, told Het Nieuwsblad, adding that their reaction to the training load over the next two weeks will be decisive.
"We will base our decision on the power they can achieve within a certain period of time and their feelings and heart rate. It is still too early to draw conclusions from the current data. Right now we are still tweaking the basic conditions too much. The real fine-tuning is yet to come."
Heijboer was identical to his colleague Heemskerk's Vingegaard and Van Aat's outlook on the Tour selection.
"Without injuries, they are still far from being as good as they could be at this moment. At this point, I estimate their chances of reaching the Tour at just over 50%."
Speaking to Cycling News at last month's Giro d'Italia, Richard Plagge of Vismaris a Bike admitted that there is no set deadline for a decision on Vingegaard's Tour entry. The Dane will not race until the Tour, but Van Aert will compete in the Belgian Championships.
"It is very late to decide. There is no ultimatum," Heijboer said, dismissing the possibility that Vingegaard, who is not in perfect physical condition, will try to win a stage at the Tour. It seems difficult to start Jonas, a two-time Tour winner, with a different mindset." Neither Jonas nor Wout will be at the Tour as an emergency measure.
The Bisma-Ries-a-Bike injury crisis is not limited to Vingegaard and van Aert, as Dylan van Baarle and Steven Kruijswijk suffered broken bones in a group crash at the Criterium du Dauphiné and will miss the Tour de France. Vuelta a España champion Sepp Kuss abandoned the Dauphiné due to illness, but Matteo Jorgenson took second place overall.
Heyboer suggested that Jorgenson would lead Visma's GC challenge at the Tour if Vingegaard ultimately missed the race.
"If Jonas doesn't make it, Matteo will be fighting for the top five. We want to leave our mark on the Tour."
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