While Visma-Lease a Bike still won’t confirm whether Jonas Vingegaard will be back at this year’s Tour de France after his horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country, plan A remains in favour of the Dane who they say “is the man who can win the race” even after sustaining a broken collarbone, ribs and a collapsed lung in April.
Vingegaard has been making positive steps in recent weeks, returning to riding outdoors, then heading to hillier Spanish terrain and now venturing up to altitude in Tignes.
But the two-time defending Tour winner’s presence to defend his yellow jersey is still touch and go, with Visma not wanting to send him unless he is 100%.
However, even with their leader out and Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss having to step up at the Critérium du Dauphiné to try and make it three wins in a row for the Dutch outfit, spirits are still high.
“The morale is good. We are hopeful that Jonas [VIngegaard] will be fit in four weeks' time but there is no news on that,” said Visma DS Grischa Niermann to Cyclingnews after the opening stage in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule.
“We cannot predict it yet but nevertheless, we are a very, very strong team and even without Jonas, we will be able to do a really good Tour de France.”
However, Niermann was adamant that the current hope is to have Vingegaard start and battle for the win against Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), as the Slovenian attempts to complete the Giro-Tour double for the first time since 1998.
“The confidence is in Jonas [Vingegaard] and Jonas is the guy that can win the race,” said Niermann outside the team bus.
“If he cannot ride then we have to make new plans and that could include Sepp [Kuss] and Matteo [Jorgenson]."
Kuss is the most recent winner of the Vuelta a España and Jorgenson has reached new heights in 2024 since joining the Dutch team, netting the overall win at Paris-Nice and finding one-day success at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
And, despite Niermann’s unwillingness to put any pressure on the pair for the Tour, with a long altitude camp in the books before the Dauphiné, the form is solid heading into the eight-day pre-Tour de France stage race.
“They are in good form. Sepp [Kuss] had a few days last week when he was not 100% feeling fit but the really hard days are still far away so we are hopeful that they will do well,” Niermann said.
“And at least they had a good preparation. Of course, that was not the preparation for the Dauphiné but for the Tour de France but they are looking good and we’ll see how far they get.”
Kuss and Jorgenson take the reigns in Vingegaard's absence
Stage 1 was the first time the talented duo from the U.S.A. had ridden together in their yellow jerseys, with Jorgenson opting for a more Classics-focused start to the season, with the 24-year very excited to get stuck into the GC challenge alongside his compatriot.
“I was just roommates with Sepp [Kuss] for a few weeks at Sierra [altitude camp] and that was like the first time we got together and it's really nice having an American in the team,” Jorgenson told reporters before the start.
“Being here together both going for GC is pretty cool. It’s a privilege, I have to pinch myself.”
He wasn’t feeling the pressure of co-leading the squad in Vingegaard’s absence either, but conceded that the challenge would be very difficult to come out on top of despite his earlier French stage race success in the Race to the Sun.
“No actually I think having Sepp here with me, I think we can kind of share the load a bit and I don’t feel so much pressure. I just want to do my best,” said Jorgenson.
“It will be difficult anyway [to win], it was difficult at Paris-Nice. I think it is a nice course, but the weekend will be a big challenge in the last 3 days.” The American of course referring to the trio of summit finishes that close out the racing in France.
The Collet d’Allevard (11.2km at 8.1%), Samoëns 1600 (10km at 9.3%) and Plateau des Glières (9.4km at 7.1%) climbs will decide the overall winner as the respective finishes on stages 6-8 and will set apart those in the best shape ahead of the Tour. But Jorgenson sees those days more in favour of Grand Tour winner Kuss.
“I think Sepp and I have really different characteristics. He’s really suited to that weekend and I’m more suited to the TT and the first couple of hilltop finishes so I'm just looking forward to giving it a go and seeing where we end up.”
Kuss was very calm at the start of the day, only finishing his media duties seconds before the countdown to the stage start began, aware that today's sprint day wasn't one for him and that the gap between the Dauphiné and the Tour leaves room to find that last bit of form.
“You can’t come into the Dauphine not in good shape but it's a good race to get a feel for the kind of racing you’ll have in the Tour and then still have time afterwards to adjust the training," Kuss said into FloBikes' microphone.
"It's an important race for sure. I haven’t raced in a while. But I think I feel pretty good.
"Of course, there’s a long time trial but there’s also some hard mountains stage so we'll just see how it goes each day and I'm looking forward to the weekend in particular."
