Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Thursday June 27, 2024 at 10:50 p.m.
Three months after his violent fall, Jonas Vingegaard will start the Tour de France this Saturday. Facing the press, the Dane made no secret of being uncertain about his level of form over three weeks but intends to defend his chances until the end.
Jonas Vingegaard is here. Three months after suffering a heavy fall during the 4th stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, the double defending champion will be at the start of the 111th Tour de France this Saturday in Florence. However, the Dane makes no secret of the fact that he had many doubts. “Every day, I thought I could do it, then I couldn’t do it,” he confided to the press. “It’s changed a lot in the last three months.” The leader of the Visma-Lease a Bike team assures that he is “happy to be on the starting line of the Tour de France,” which he presents as “a victory” while he suffered several fractures, a pulmonary contusion and a pneumothorax. In his eyes, the last three months have been “the hardest time of (his) career,” he who preferred to fight to come back as quickly as possible. “We made a good plan to rebuild me, everything was done to try to be ready for this race,” he added. “The hardest part was physically, to get back to the same level, because I had to take a long break, two weeks in bed and that’s not ideal for fitness, I had to wait to really train.”
Vingegaard: “Achieve the best possible result”
If he is able to resume competition, Jonas Vingegaard admits to being uncertain about his ability to last the entire Tour de France. “We’ll see about the long-term effects, I don’t know what it will be like in the third week, but I hope to improve during this Tour,” he added. In a relatively similar situation last year, Tadej Pogacar had broken down in the last week, leaving the field open for the Dane to seek the final victory. Admitting to having suffered “a very bad fall”, Jonas Vingegaard sets himself the objective of “getting the best possible result in the general classification” but concedes that it will not be easy. “I’m going to fight to hang on, and maybe I’ll get back to my best level later,” he said. From now on, everything is just a bonus. » As for a third victory in a row on the Grande Boucle, Jonas Vingegaard claims to be in complete limbo but does not want to hold anything back. “I have hope, I will fight for victory, but we will see,” he concluded. If I do well, I will be very happy. » While the competition will be tougher than ever, the yellow jersey mission promises to be complicated for the double title holder.
