Timid Vingegaard, "worst Tour form ever" for Van Aert, and COVID-19 Kuss: Visma | LAB's mission "extends beyond one race"

Whether Vingegaard can win the Tour de France is not even a question, according to the Dane. The defending champion attended a press conference on Thursday for the first time since his dramatic crash in the Tour of the Basque Country and did so more timidly than usual. "My ambition is to go for the best possible result in the general classification. It was a really bad fall, so I'm mostly just glad to be here. Everything that comes now is a bonus," he said, revealing much.

"Sometimes there are days when you think you'll make it, and some days when you think you won’t. That varied, but I'm happy to be here now. That's a victory in itself." Vingegaard does not want to talk about Tadej Pogacar, about dominating like in 2022 and 2023... He’s here again, while no one expected it after his crash in the Basque Country. "It took a long time before I could really train again. I worked hard and eventually trained well, and I'm not in bad shape. Of course, I hope to achieve something, that I can win again. But everything from here on out is a bonus."

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A logical one-liner, which reappears several times. Vingegaard was pushed forward by all his competitors as a challenger to Pogacar, but sports director Merijn Zeeman emphasizes where his leader is coming from. "When I think of how Wout (van Aert, ed.) screamed when they were cleaning his wounds... And I was also very shocked by how Jonas looked in the hospital. Now I see them walk around once again as lean athletes, which fills us with pride. I hope we can make our mark, give UAE some competition, and then mainly continue to build. Because if Jonas is fit and has a good preparation, he is, for me, the best stage racer in the world and the top favorite for the Tour, more so than Pogacar. He was clearly the best in 2022 and 2023, but that will be for next year."

"I don’t know what two weeks in the ICU does to my body. I had to lay in bed for two weeks, which is not good for you. There were so many things I had to rebuild," says Vingegaard. He found the support he needed from the people who have always been there for him. "My family has been there for me, as they always have. Just like the team. That means everything to me. We hope that the hard work pays off because the past weeks have been the hardest moment of my career. At a moment like that, you think about fighting back, and we did that together. I’m glad it’s behind us and that I’m here now."

So, everything is a bonus, with Zeeman also keeping in mind all the setbacks of recent months. "We have finished on the Tour podium every year since 2019, five years in a row. Now we are starting it off differently, so the main thing is to get a lot of different good things out of this Tour. When is something positive? You compare that to the quality we have as a group, but then I mean moments that we can truly be proud of ourselves. That already starts with the fact that Jonas and Wout are here. That is a huge achievement, and I hope there will be more things to celebrate later. Think of a stage win, that would do morale a lot of good. And if Jonas gets confirmation that he can follow the best, that would also be a very nice confirmation. During the Tour, we can see what is realistically possible. If we can limit the damage in the opening phase and then grow into it, I hope we can look back on something that goes beyond just one race."

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The extent of recent events at Visma | Lease a Bike is evident from the selection. Vingegaard and Van Aert are in, but Steven Kruijswijk and Dylan van Baarle dropped out with fractures in the Dauphiné. Recently, Sepp Kuss got in trouble. The American got sick and did not recover. "Sepp didn’t do well in the Dauphiné, which surprised us. In the Sierra Nevada, he was in very good shape. Everything actually went very well there. We were very disappointed that he couldn’t keep up, although we initially thought it might just be one bad day. It stayed that way, so we decided to stop a day earlier for recovery and train again in Tignes," Zeeman explains.

"Then the doctor suggested we do a COVID-19 test, and it turned out positive. His symptoms were mild, but in the weeks after, he was no longer fit. He couldn’t train anymore, after two hours of cycling, he was exhausted. Post-COVID-19 symptoms, as we also see in the rest of society. He hasn’t been able to do a normal training session since the Dauphiné. He is extremely tired, his body completely disrupted. We hoped until the last moment that he might recover and be ready for the third week. But last Monday was still so bad, he just couldn’t start."

"Sepp is a very, very important rider. We will miss him, he has been there for the team so many times," Vingegaard emphasizes. Visma | Lease a Bike eventually called up Bart Lemmen (you know, the former soldier) to replace him. According to Zeeman, it was a last resort but also a reward. "We ended up looking at a pool of riders who were no longer planned. We weighed up who has the highest level, who fits into the group the best, and who is best suited for the task. Bart emerged as the best rider for us. I am very happy that we were able to call up a rider of his caliber, because it’s also a very good investment for the future to have him here. We have high expectations of him. Bart will become a very good WorldTour rider, physically and personality-wise. He has a bright future ahead of him, although this will be a shock for him. It's bigger than he's used to, but a rider with his qualities belongs here."

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Returning to Vingegaard and also Van Aert. Because the press conference on Thursday was essentially a contest of tempering expectations. "My priority was to get back in shape. My time trial is not like last year," Vingegaard says about his lack of kilometers on the time trial bike. "If everything goes as you want, then you look at all the details. Then you prepare for each stage specifically, but with Jonas, we only looked at the big picture. At first, he couldn’t even ride the time trial bike with his broken ribs, but he has done that recently. However, the focus was not on that."

When we confront Zeeman with Vingegaard’s somewhat timid attitude, he understands it. "Jonas himself is the best judge of that. What he probably means is that he had already written it off after that crash. The Tour was extremely far away, and Jonas also knows how hard it has been to get to where he is now. That is a victory for him and for us too. It was a very intense period, where we pulled out all the stops to get him here. Jonas has lived like a monk, but for a long time, it seemed impossible. Yet, it has worked out. He is in good shape, but it is very different from last year. Back then he had the perfect preparation, won everything with ease, and was better than ever. Only victory mattered then. Now we are in a different situation, with a competitor who wins everything that can be won. He rides minutes ahead, so we are starting from a different position. But we are no less combative."

That also applies to Van Aert, who was also honest about his current form. "It’s been a tough year for everyone, so it’s hard to have expectations. I am in the worst shape I’ve ever worked towards for a Tour. I am quite good, but not as good as I am used to. We'll have to wait and see how my legs will be, and luckily, I can be useful for the team on all fronts. If my legs get better, I hope to get some chances for myself. Sprinting? I hope to be competitive, whether in sprints or other stages. It didn’t work super well in the Belgian National Championships, but in a tough opening weekend, I can get a feel for what is possible. I hope to grow in the race and be proud that I am back at this level."

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Van Aert's eventual choice to participate in the Tour initially seemed at odds with his Olympic ambitions in Paris. During the Olympics, he wants to perform well in the time trial, which comes nearly a week after the finish in Nice. After his crash, however, Van Aert realized that gaining race rhythm now is more important for the Olympics than choosing a specific training period. "The Olympics are a big goal for me, both the time trial and the road race. In light of the Olympics and the Tour, it was the best choice to start here. In the form I am in now, I can only continue to grow with more race kilometers. I hope to fight until Nice and then quickly shift focus."

That also applies to Vingegaard, who may not yet be himself in the Tour de France but could also head to the Vuelta later in the year. "There are various things to consider, but everyone knows the Tour. You don't just skip that. If we had concluded that we couldn't play any role here, Jonas wouldn’t have started. But we do believe in it. In the end, the Vuelta is different from the Tour," says Zeeman. "And this Tour is also a moment for us to have a group of very good riders together again, after all those setbacks. We want to make our mark in the races again. We have therefore also stopped making plans for what comes after the Tour. The Vuelta is still on hold, who will ride there. Can Kruijswijk and Van Baarle make it? And Uijtdebroeks? There are a lot of question marks, so we will let that depend on the Tour."

Maybe that’s better. First the Tour, then the last grand tour for Zeeman, before he changes employers to Dutch football club AZ in October. So, there’s a lot at stake for him to give a solid revival this year. "I don't think about it much yet, mainly because I am still focused on everything that needs to be done. I want to do my job as well as possible and prepare the team. I’m not thinking about it much yet, but many people are starting to mention it, and I get a lot of messages. Then I realize that next summer will be very different. Then it will mainly be very strange that I’m not there. If everything runs smoothly, there might be more time for reflection, but I am also so absorbed in the work because we have so many things to manage... I simply don't have time to really stop and think about it. The only thing that is different is that we are also preparing things for next year and I am involving people in what I do. So that my role is handed over to my successor as well as possible. Then you do consider the fact that these are your last months with the team."