After a terrible spring which saw both Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard suffer terrible crashes, things seem to be back on track with Visma – Lease a Bike. The Belgian and the Dane are in Tignes, France doing some training in the high mountains, along with teammate Christophe Laporte.
Josep Termens happened to be riding on some of the same roads, and got some cool clips of van Aert testing out his kick. The former green jersey winner resumed racing at the Tour of Norway, two months after his brutal crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen. Although suffering on the first day, he had two good results, a fourth and a third, and said that his confidence is coming back.
Back to work
His eight-week break from racing was the result of the crash with left him with fractures in his collarbone, sternum, and seven ribs. He had to withdraw from all the Spring Classics and miss out on his debut at the Giro d’Italia. He then underwent an extensive rehabilitation period.
“It hasn’t always been easy sitting on the sidelines, but fortunately, I can now look ahead again”, Van Aert said. “I’m not in the best shape; it’s a test. But I’m looking forward to it.”
The question of the Tour de France
Vingegaard is also on the mend, and it will be down to the wire to see if he does the Tour de France.
“He must be able to perform the toughest endurance training; the intensity, the intervals, the long endurance rides,” Visma | Lease a Bike’s directeur sportif Merijn Zeeman said. ”A rider who may not be at his own top level, but who is ready for it both physically as well mentally. He has to be looking forward to that and have the feeling: I am completely back and can fight with the best for three weeks. If that is not the case, Jonas cannot and will not ride.”
Zeeman said that ultimately, the final decision will rest with the defending champ. The team boss previously said that the 27-year-old would only race if the team thought he was capable of winning. His fitness cannot be 90 per cent, it must be at full capacity.
The Tour de France begins June 29 in Florence.
“Jonas will decide for himself whether or not he will go to the Tour de France. That means he has to feel for himself whether he is completely ready for it in all respects and whether he is the old Jonas again. Therefore the choice is his. We will never force a rider to compete,” he concluded.
But for cycling fans, it’s great to see the riders who had such brutal crashes earlier in the…
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