After weeks of uncertainty, we now know that Jonas Vingegaard will be on the start line for the Tour de France in under 10 days time in Florence. Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed their team selection ahead of next week’s Grand Départ on Thursday.
But after Vingegaard spending the last eight weeks recovering from injuries sustained in his dramatic crash in the spring, the Dutch team has not made clear what exactly he will be targeting once the race gets underway in Italy.
A third overall victory would seem to be an obvious answer, but as the team’s sporting director Merijn Zeeman pointed out on Thursday, his form is unknown due to being unable to race since the crash at Itzulia Basque Country in early April.
"Of course, we don’t know how far he can go yet," Zeeman said in a press release on Thursday which only said Vingegaard would be looking to "fight for a good result".
"His preparation has been less than ideal, to say the least," Zeeman added. "But he will be there, healthy and motivated."
Vingegaard’s form is not clear. However, the 27-year-old will arrive in Italy in his best possible condition - given the circumstances - and ready to race hard after weeks in training, part of that being in Tignes with the entire Visma-Lease a Bike Tour squad.
His coach, Tim Heemskerk has previously highlighted that Vingegaard is far from being your average athlete in the peloton, which means he was already in peak physical condition prior to hitting the tarmac in April.
"We're dealing with a two-time Tour de France champion," Heemskerk said. "We know these guys are mentally really tough but also can recover really fast."
Vingegaard has long had a reputation as being a fighter and not someone who would simply throw in the towel. His former ColoQuick-Cult teammate Christian Moberg believes that he will not have been selected for the Tour simply to make up the numbers.
Moberg told Cycling Weekly on Thursday morning that he didn’t see any lack of clarity regarding Vingegaard’s goals in France. The former rider-turned manager of ColoQuick said that he believes he will have been selected to fight for a spot on the podium in Nice, nothing less
"He will go all the way to Nice to fight for the best position in the GC," Moberg said. "They will be confident in the third week. There is so much high altitude there and the time trial."
Moberg said that the only eventuality in which he could see a change of mindset towards targeting stages was if Vingegaard has already lost a significant amount of time by the end of the first week.
"It will only be if Jonas is 20 minutes back after the first week that there could maybe be an opportunity for Matteo [Jorgenson] and a change of tactics," he added. "But in my opinion, I don’t think there is any question about what they are there for. They will go and try to win the Tour de France with Jonas.
"Selecting him for the Tour means they think he can ride well on the GC. The team will be going in with a clear goal."
Unlike others, Vingegaard has long been known as being a rider that prefers to avoid social media, instead keeping himself to himself as he trains for his goals each year. After coming back from such a traumatic crash, that mentality could now work in his favour more than ever as he gets set to line up in Florence in just nine days time.
UAE may have the more in form riders, but Visma-Lease a Bike will be confident in Vingegaard’s fitness. Backed up by Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson amongst others, who knows what could happen once the race gets underway.
Only the road will decide, a frequently used cliché in interviews. But on this occasion, that now seems to be more fitting than ever before as the Tour draws near.
