"The ideal preparation was already in the trash by then": Visma | LaB on time trial trainings Van Aert and Vingegaard

IDLProCycling.com is present at the Critérium du Dauphiné - the most important preparatory race for the Tour de France - and has already spoken to several people from Visma | Lease a Bike (before the massive crash, ed.), which competed in France with Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss as team leaders. Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard, as is known, are not present in the WorldTour race, as they have been in Tignes (altitude training camp) for a few days, continuing their recovery from injuries, hoping to still compete for their dream goals...

For Van Aert, his main focus is on the Olympic time trial in Paris, while for his Danish teammate, the Tour de France is, of course, the sole focus. After the second Dauphiné stage, this website spoke with team director Grischa Niermann, shared insights about Van Aert's dual focus on the Olympics and the Tour. "I don't think Wout can decide by himself if he goes to the Tour, haha! We will determine that as a team together with Wout. We don’t do it without Wout, but Wout also can't do it without us!" said the German.

In connection with the Dauphiné time trial—dominated by a formidable Remco Evenepoel—we spoke with Mathieu Heijboer, Visma | Lease a Bike's performance coach. While Jorgenson secured fourth place for the team, Kuss fell behind, finishing over three minutes behind Evenepoel. This raised questions about the current state of Van Aert and Vingegaard’s time trial training, especially given that their preparation had likely shifted significantly towards either the Tour, the Olympics (or a combination of both).

"As for the time trial training, a lot has changed," acknowledges the Dutch coach. "For Wout, it's a big disadvantage that he sees the Olympic time trial as a major goal, but that he only got back on his time trial bike last week for the first time since his injury. It's a fact that it's going to be difficult in all aspects, but especially in that area. The same applies to Jonas. You simply miss two months of training and therefore also on the time trial bike. We of course hope that both of them can go to the Tour. But on the other hand: the ideal preparation was basically thrown in the trash two months ago."

According to Heijboer, it is now just a matter of 'making the best of it'. "We'll just see how far they've come," says the sports scientist. "There’s not much more we can do in those few weeks. By then, we'll see if they are truly ready. And again: time trialing has taken a huge hit, considering that both Wout and Jonas have only been back on the time trial bike for a week. Fortunately, that went reasonably well, but of course, you would have preferred to have laid the fgroundwork a month ago already."