"Imagine the Tour de France winner coming home from an hour riding a bike in a flat part of Denmark and being very tired after that hour."

That was how Visma-Lease A Bike lead sports director Merijn Zeeman described one of the multiple memorable points on Jonas Vingegaard's rollercoaster path.

"But," Zeeman added, "This guy is very talented, so if he trains one hour, the next day he's already getting better." And he has two hours of training, and the next day he is getting better.

"It's actually his natural talent and that's why he's in very good shape to go on tour.

However, Vingegaard's terrible injuries from the Itzulia Basque Country mass crash on May 4 included a broken rib, a broken collarbone and a punctured lung, which had raised considerable questions for weeks about whether he was able to return to the race in time for the tour.

However, it was confirmed on Thursday morning that both Vingegaard and Wout van Aert were seriously injured this spring. 

On Thursday afternoon, in a long, sometimes emotional interview with a small group of media, Zeeman described the complex and distinct debate that has brought the bike to a decision that riders and Visma-Lease can participate in. 

It was, as it was last Tuesday, a decision that only became decisive in the case of Vingegaard, something that, at least for Zeeman, produced a mixture of joy, increased motivation and not even a bit of pride in his riders. Just to see them at the start line of the Tour de France, as he said, "It's already going to be a victory."

However, the final confirmation was probably not so surprising, as the likelihood of a decision has grown more and more in the last few days. Indeed, media attention has already switched surprisingly fast from vingegaard's comeback to Vingegaard's potential accomplishments, and one journalist asked Zeeman in an interview, "Is he going to win the tour?"

"That's the hardest question to answer," Zeman replied. "I think he's in a group of riders who can win the Tour de France.

Throughout the recovery process, Zeeman said it is always up to Vingegaard to have the final say on whether he will go.

"I asked Jonas that question last Tuesday - what do you want?" You believe you can win the Tour de France and be competitive, but you have the last word. That's your call.

"And he was very sure he wanted to go.

Zeeman realized that the build-up was fundamentally different, but there were some results. In fact, even before it was published that the Danish star was on tour, the original idea promoted by Visma that Vingegor "must be 100%" to participate was encompassed by the vague idea that Vingegor "would be on tour if he was competitive." I had a lot of work to do.

Zeeman explained the level switch of the bar for Vingegaard's participation, saying, "What I meant was that Jonas would have been making traditional preparations in the Basque country, some reconnaissance, the first altitude camp in the Sierra Nevada, Dauphiné.

"I know that following that path, he can reach an incredibly high level and become a tour favorite.

"But during the [recovery from the crash] process it became clear that it was impossible, and it was too early to go to Sierra Nevada and do Dauphine, which means he [still] lacks some racing rhythm to reach his highest level. "

However, if the normal build-up was not possible, Zeeman said, the alternative route taken by Vingegaard towards the tour still showed more than promising signs

"Preparation continued and we analyzed its progress as his coach Tim Heemskerk updated me about the reachable level . It came to the point that he would not follow the traditional path and there was no guarantee that he would be at a very high level. But he was so fit.

"And he is [very fit], very healthy, very motivated and really keen to race in the Tour de France.

The unusual situation requires an unusual solution, and Zeeman described vingegaard's fight from injury and "the worst crash of his career" as a rider's problem, "doing 100% day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day, day by day.""In a traditional build-up, every day is not the most important, but in a rehabilitation like he was, every day should be 100%. I am also very proud that he committed to it, even when he was in the hospital in Vitoria."

"He was already so eager to be as good as possible at the Tour de France. For us, already, it is a victory, and that also applies to Wout van Aert. We are incredibly proud of them."

As to whether there was a single day if during the two-month recovery process, it became clear that Vingegaard is ok on tour, Zeeman said, "That's a good question." It was a process.

"If we analyze every week, at first it was very difficult to believe that the same rider would be ready to go to it on tour if he was so injured and already tired after an hour on the bike.

"But the winner of the Tour de France, for example, is a freak of nature. They made incredible progress, and we could not imagine that he came to this point.

"And that's why we came to the conclusion that he had to go on tour.

And now there's no guarantee that Vingegaard can fight for the yellow, but "He's ready to race.""As for what is possible," we're in a bit of darkness. But he is definitely enough to challenge.

"We go to the Tour de France with a slightly different mindset. Last year we felt the pressure as defending champions, but now we are particularly motivated to show who we are and leave all our bad luck behind.

"There is no pressure on us like anything more than disappointment, we must win.""We have won these players at this level, we are competitive, we have a great team and being very optimistic is already a win. If it is enough - we will see.

Zeeman said that Vingegaard is now "the only rider in our team at this point who can win the Tour de France" - at least for now, in a joint race with teammate Matteo Jorgenson, Critérium du Dauphiné, or Vuelta a España winner Sepp Kuss. I put the idea of leadership aside.

But he also said that Visma-Lease A Bike is under the illusion that the newly recovered Vingegaard will receive all sorts of "grace periods" from rivals once the actual race begins.

"I have contacted Matxin [UAE Team Emirates Lead Sports Director -ed."Finally ' Hi can first weekend, good bad."The break will win because he agreed," Zeeman said with a sarcastic grin.

"No, no - it is clear that it will be full throttle from the first stage, and we should be ready for that." I think we have a very good team and Jonas has a lot of confidence. But the first week will be difficult."

But even as it turned out, Zeeman said that arch rival Tadej Pogacar (UAE team Emirates) was very strong on his first weekend in Italy and will get time "It will do it until we get to Nice, in the last 34 meters of the Battle

tour." And we will see where we are. "

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