Jonas Vingegaard's wife, Trine, has questioned his Visma Lease a Bike team's approach to preparing him for major races, including the Tour de France, saying she was now fearful the team had pushed him to hard.
She was fearful the intense approach to training and racing taken by the Dutch World Tour squad did not suit her husband. And she believes the team should take into consideration what an athlete needs as a person to perform at their best, rather than simply focusing on training and recovery.
The team has replied to the remarks, saying an intense effort was required to prepare the top riders for the biggest race of the year. And though nothing was said that would seriously fracture the relationship between Vingegaard and his team, the remarks - and the timing just before the Tour - are very unusual.
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"Knowing Jonas, I would say that they (Visma Lease a Bike) are squeezing the lemon too much now," Trine Vingegaard told ekstrabladet.dk in an interview. "I'm afraid he's burning his candle at both ends. I think that sometimes you forget the whole person and how to get the best out of him. It can backfire."
Vingegaard is a rider who likes his privacy, and his time at home with his wife and child. When he first won the Tour de France in 2022 he was absent from the spotlight and didn't race again for two months. And last year, when he finished 2nd at the Tour - after coming back from a very serious crash in the Basque Country in April - he only completed one race; winning Tour de Pologne.
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This year he has spent time away from home for racing, but also for altitude camps. He had a pre-Tour camp in Tignes and also did a stint at Sierra Nevada earlier in the season. His wife has questioned the benefit of all that time at camps, especially as she believes it comes at the expense of time at home where her husband could properly "reset" for his major goals.
"Jonas doesn't let go when he's at an altitude training camp with the team for three weeks again. He'd rather be with us back home in Denmark to do that", she said. "He’s deeply attached to his routines. Sometimes he needs to reset in the calmest surroundings possible, just with his family.
"At one point, we decided to renovate the house together. Jonas realized he could rip out a kitchen, install a new one and lay down wooden flooring. The team wasn’t too pleased about that.
"With two children, he does feel he’s missing out on life at home. That has to be weighed against the joy he gets from cycling. In many ways, the countdown to the end of his career began when we had our first child."
In reply, Visma Lease a Bike's sports director, Grischa Niermann, told to TV2 the team had a very strong and healthy relationship with Jonas and Trine Vingegaard.
"We always sit together and plan the year," he said of making those plans by including all voices. "But sacrifices are needed if you are to win the biggest cycling race in the world. And Jonas knows that, and so does Trine. It's probably a bit exaggerated, but we have a good collaboration with Jonas and Trine."
