Visma-Lease a Bike have put Jonas Vingegaard’s remarkable comeback to form at the Tour de France from his horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country down to his “incredible talent”, not accepting any notion that they over-exaggerated his recovery from injury.
While he starts the third week of the Tour in second overall 3:09 behind rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who is in the shape of his life, Visma believe Vingegaard is also showing signs of career-best form despite his derailed approach.
According to team sporting director Merijn Zeeman, the Dane delivered one of his absolute best climbing performances up Plateau de Beille on Sunday before he was ultimately beaten by Pogačar with a brutal attack 5.6km from the line.
“It is difficult to compare with performances from the past. But despite this being a very difficult ride, made extra difficult by us, Jonas [Vingegaard] delivered one of his best climbing performances ever,” admitted Zeeman to Het Laatste Nieuws.
“It’s thanks to his incredible talent,” said the Dutchman of just how Vingegaard is even at this level. “I have never seen an athlete who improves so quickly through training than Jonas.”
It's also not the first time Vingegaard has shown his superior powers of recovery in recent years.
“His run-up to this Tour was extreme, but in 2021 he suffered from his Achilles tendon during the preparatory altitude training camp and could barely train for an hour and a half, while his teammates completed training sessions of six hours. Still, he finished second in the Tour," Zeeman said.
“The same in 2022, when he and Tiesj got sick during the altitude training. Once they started cycling, they were pushed from pillar to post. Yet Jonas won that Tour because he improved incredibly quickly in the last weeks beforehand.”
Zeeman, who is set to swap cycling for football at the end of the season after 12 years at Visma, was however, starting to get more fed up with the noise that his recovery from injury was overplayed in the run-up to the Tour. Vingegaard suffered a broken collarbone, ribs and a collapsed lung in the high-speed crash in April.
“I hear and read more and more from outsiders: ‘It can't have been that bad’. You really can't say that,” he said.
“Jonas himself said that he thought he was dying when he was transferred on a stretcher. He was tied to a mattress in intensive care for ten days, unable to turn or pull himself up because all his ribs were broken. He had to call the nurses all the time to ask: 'Can you turn me over a bit'
“The fact that he is now among the best riders is an incredible story and at the same time a great compliment to him, his trainer, our rehabilitation coach and nutrition specialist.”
Zeeman also stressed that it was no excuse if Vingegaard doesn't win the Tour but that "suppose Pogačar wins... then it is up to Jonas to use the month of April next year to become even better than he is now.”
The Tour isn't over yet
Vingegaard put his Visma teammates to work on Sunday throughout the 197.7km stage that took in almost 5000m of elevation gain, keeping the breakaway close enough and launching on the final climb through Matteo Jorgenson, who shredded the group down to six before his leader attacked.
It was a performance that Zeeman was proud of, with Pogačar’s superiority up the final Pyrenean test the only missing piece of the puzzle.
“It’s only called a master plan when it works. Because we saw opportunities to make a difference against Pogacar in the stage to Plateau De Beille, we had all our riders prepare themselves in this Tour to deliver a top performance,” said Zeeman.
“When I saw what they achieved, I could only look at it with pride and admiration. Only we were not able to crack Pogačar and that was the intention.”
However, the Tour is far from over, with a brutally tough final six days still left to race. The gap may seem insurmountable with Pogačar appearing to be at his very best, but the Dutch team will not go down without exhausting all options.
“We still have six days to try to win the Tour. We are going to do everything we can. Pogačar was much better in the Pyrenees than last year. Hats off, but in the Tour something happens every day,” Zeeman said.
“Look at Primož Roglič. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but that could also happen to Pogačar. You have to stay healthy and stay well-positioned... I’m sure that UAE is nervous now. There are still potential stumbling blocks to come. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday we have three tough stages in a row.”
While UAE sit in pole position to win the 2024 Tour, Zeeman does not see it as a change in status of who is cycling’s top team, stating that the Emirati squad have merely closed the gap to Visma.
“Not overtaken, I think we are now evenly matched," said of maximising performance. "Compared to 2022, when we beat UAE for the first time, that team has improved a lot. They have put a lot of effort into improving points that they were not good at, which we exposed at the time."
“I see that they are now also standing in many more places along the course with water bottles. I see that Pogačar pays a lot of attention to cooling down immediately after the race... It seems that they learned that from us.”
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