Visma | LAB continues search for Tour de France Team (on new bikes!): "Van Aert and Vingegaard not in great shape"

"It's a huge disappointment," says Richard Plugge about losing Steven Kruijswijk and Dylan van Baarle for the Tour de France. The two Dutchmen suffered severe falls during the fifth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, sustaining fractures that ended their race. As a result, Visma | Lease a Bike is even more hopeful for a miraculous recovery from Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert, who still have question marks over them for the summer.

Plugge shares all this while standing on a mountain, speaking to NOS, where his team leaders are also located. "We are cyclists. We always get back up and keep going. However, it does have a significant practical and emotional impact on people. The whole team is wondering, 'what's happening and how can we prevent this?' As far as I'm concerned, we now draw a line under everything we've experienced this year. With our track record, we want to aim high in the Tour, not just ride around anonymously."

Easy to say, but can Visma | Lease a Bike pull that off? With Vingegaard and potentially Van Aert in the Tour team, they wouldn't necessarily lose much in terms of the original ambitions despite missing two important domestiques. "It's certainly no longer plan A. But we hope to stay as close to plan A as possible. Are Jonas and Wout fully fit? Depending on the answer to that question, we can start making decisions. We are assuming Jonas will be 100% at the start of the Tour. That's necessary to compete for the win."

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"We can't say yet whether it's going to work out, but we also can't say it won't. If it doesn't, we'll have to make different choices. There's nothing more to say about it at this time," states Plugge. Grischa Niermann, team director currently at the Dauphiné, also comments to Het Nieuwsblad, "We are still uncertain about both Jonas and Wout. There were various scenarios laid out, but nothing concrete yet. What was clear, however, was that Dylan and Steven were going to the Tour, but we have to rethink that scenario now as well.'

This means that new names will definitely appear in the Tour team, as Kruijswijk and Van Baarle need to be replaced. And then there's still the chance that Vingegaard and/or Van Aert might not make it. Niermann stresses that Cian Uijtdebroeks won't be part of it. "For now, that's not on the table; Cian is still very young, feels good again after his withdrawal from the Giro, and is supposed to ride the Tour of Switzerland. We currently have 26 riders available. Vingegaard and Van Aert are not where they should be, no. Otherwise, it would be clear. Both have had bad falls and are not at the level they were last year. We need to consider how much sense it makes. They are preparing well, but they are not at the level they were exactly a year ago. It's certainly achievable, but we are still making decisions."