Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Merijn Zeeman has changed the parameters and objectives that will decide if Jonas Vingegaard will ride the 2024 Tour de France, saying the Danish star’s participation hinges on being “competitive”, rather than “fighting for yellow.”
Vingegaard was involved in a terrible crash in Itzulia-Basque Country in April and has since been in a race against time to recover from his injuries.
The latest twist in the drawn-out 'will-he-won’t-he' Tour de France saga was provided by Zeeman during an interview with the Cycloo Wielercafe podcast.
If confirmed, this would constitute a lowering of the bar from that set by previous comments in the Visma-Lease a Bike team. Earlier this year the Dutch squad had stated that the double Tour de France winner would only appear on the startline a week in Firenze if he was 100% ready and in a position to fight for a third straight win.
Those expectations and limitations appear to have changed.
“The Tour is not like a major time trial where the best rider always wins,” Zeeman told the podcast when questioned about a possible shift in their criteria.
“So there is also a tactical component to it, and whether you can stay out of trouble. So we are going to take a decision.”
Zeeman confirmed that since it was last stated that the Visma-Lease A Bike leader would need to be in a position to fight for the maillot jaune, the team was in a different place after more riders suffered crashes and setbacks.
“Yes, I said that two weeks after those falls. We have now moved on quite some time and we may still need to refine this," Zeeman said.
“It is a very difficult puzzle. We have a lot of injuries, so we still have some work to do to sort things out.
"Wout Van Aert is already a lot further along, he has already ridden the Tour of Norway, but Jonas has of course been in a tough situation since the Itzulia Basque Country race."
“He is now training. But training is one thing, but whether you can be competitive in the Tour is something else.”
“We are not yet ready to say that he will start if he can get on the podium. But sometime we will take stock [and decide]: will he go or will he not? How is he doing now? What can we expect?”
Zeeman pointed out that Vingegaard’s own opinion was key in that decision-making process, and recalled that the crash, which led to the Dane spending two weeks in hospital and not racing since early April had serious consequences.
“It wasn’t just a broken collarbone,” he said. "We must not forget that it was a crash with a very big impact. There's also the fear of another fall. After the Dauphiné I drove on to Tignes, so I talked to him about it a lot.”
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