Visma-Lease A Bike are getting ready for next month’s Tour de France with their final training camp in Tignes. Ten riders, including Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard, will gather before the final eight-man team is chosen.
Reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard has been training at high altitude in Tignes for a week. On Monday, he will be joined by Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte. After the Critérium du Dauphiné, the team’s squad, including Sepp Kuss, Matteo Jorgenson, and Tiesj Benoot, will also join them. The final decision on the Tour de France team is expected in about two weeks.
Both Vingegaard and Van Aert are coming back from major crashes earlier this year. Vingegaard is still recovering from his fall in the Itzulia Basque Country, while Van Aert’s crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen ruined his spring Classics campaign. Van Aert has already raced once since his crash, taking part in the four-day Tour of Norway at the end of May.
Visma-Lease A Bike directeur sportif Frans Maassen commented on Van Aert’s current form, noting that the Tour of Norway might have been “a little too early” for him. However, it helped Van Aert gauge his fitness level. “We will look at the level of each rider,” Maassen told Het Laatste Nieuws.
Van Aert’s performance in Norway
Maassen remarked, “It wasn’t ideal for Van Aert to drop away on the uphill finishes of stages 1 and 2 in Norway. But he joined the bunch sprints on stages 3 and 4 and really should have won the final stage. He recovered quickly and improved every day. He had a good feeling after Norway but, of course, there’s still a lot of work to do.”
If Van Aert makes the Tour squad, he will likely have a team role but also seek his own chances during certain stages. He also needs to prepare for the time trial at the Paris Olympic Games. Maassen said, “A lot will depend on the role Van Aert gets, should he ride the Tour. Whether it’s with or without Vingegaard, his role will vary each time.” He added, “Van Aert is smart and can decide for himself if he needs the Tour for his Olympic dream, or if it’s better to have an altitude training camp in Livigno in July.”
