Jonas Vingegaard has declared himself match to defend his Tour de France title, however is opting to downplay expectations following three months out injured.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider crashed laborious at April’s Itzulia Basque Nation, breaking a collarbone and ribs in addition to puncturing his lung. It was hit or miss whether or not or not he would make it to the Tour’s startline in Florence, however the Dane spent 4 weeks coaching at altitude within the French Alps and impressed selectors sufficient to ensure his place.
UAE-Workforce Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar is the favorite to win the race’s yellow jersey, however Vingegaard has promised to offer his arch-rival a run for his cash, whereas on the similar time insisting that simply being on the race is “a victory in itself” and that “all the things from right here is only a bonus.”
“My ambitions are to go for the absolute best outcome within the GC,” the 27-year-old stated. “From right here, if I get a outcome, I might be very completely satisfied.
“After all, if I wouldn’t have progressed I wouldn’t be right here [so] I’m undoubtedly right here for victory. However after all issues have modified within the final three months.
“I nonetheless have my hopes that I’m ok to struggle for the victory at the very least however I assume we’ll see within the coming three weeks. And as I stated, all the things is a bonus from now.”
Vingegaard’s workforce has constantly stated that they wouldn’t choose him for the race in the event that they didn’t imagine he was at 100% situation and didn’t have an opportunity of successful a 3rd successive maillot jaune. The actual fact he’ll start the race signifies that his kind is sweet, regardless of not having raced since his crash, and his coach, TIm Heemskerk, has repeated that he has by no means seen an athlete recuperate as quick as Vingegaard.
In reflecting on his three months of recuperation, Vingegaard stated that “each second day you suppose you make it, and each second day you suppose you don’t make it.”
He added: “It is in all probability been the toughest second of my profession over the previous couple of months however I feel in that scenario you simply take into consideration combating again quite than feeling sorry for your self and that is what me and my household have completed for the final three months, attempting all the things we might to prepare for this race.
“Probably the most tough factor has been bodily getting again to the identical degree. I needed to take an extended break [off the bike of three weeks] after my crash, and I had a whole lot of accidents that wanted to heal earlier than I used to be capable of practice correctly.
“I did a whole lot of good work and I’m not in a foul form. I simply hope that each one the great work now we have completed collectively will repay.”
Vingegaard might be with out key domestique Sepp Kuss within the race, with the American not having recovered from a current Covid an infection. “Sepp is a really, very worthwhile rider, so we’ll miss him lots,” Vingegaard rued.
