Visma-Lease a Bike’s top riders have had a tough time in 2026, with Simon Yates making the shock decision to retire early, Wout van Aert breaking his ankle during his cyclo-cross campaign, and Jonas Vingegaard dropping out of the UAE Tour after crashing on a descent in Spain, then falling ill.
Yet the team’s Head of Racing, Grischa Niermann, isn’t panicking yet, telling Wielerflits.nl in an interview that their absence is “not a disaster”.
“Due to both the crash and the illness, he wasn’t able to train as well. Although I can’t tell you exactly how long he was off the bike,” Niermann said. “But it was so severe that we decided he wouldn’t be able to get fit in time — or at least in top or very good shape — for the UAE Tour.”
With his debut in the Giro d’Italia and another battle with Tadej Pogačar in the Tour de France on tap for the season, Vingegaard is anxious to get his season underway, but has to hold back for now, Niermann said.
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