Trump’s G7 visit disrupted Vingegaard’s journey to Tour altitude camp

Vingegaard had flown to Switzerland before travelling by car to Tignes, where he was due to complete his final altitude training block ahead of the Tour. 

Former professional Nathan Van Hooydonck, who accompanied him on the journey, recalled the unusual trip on the De Rode Lantaarn podcast.

“Jonas indirectly crossed paths with the president,” Van Hooydonck said.

The first sign that this would not be a routine transfer came as their plane landed in Geneva.

“Jonas asked me whether I had seen a particular plane when we arrived,” Van Hooydonck explained. “I was sitting on the wrong side of the aircraft, so I had not noticed it. I asked him which plane he meant. It turned out to be Air Force One.”

Trump was visiting nearby Évian-les-Bains for the G7 summit. The American president’s presence was accompanied by an extensive security operation, although Vingegaard and his travelling party initially failed to consider what that might mean for their drive into France.

“We did not realise how much impact something like that has on an entire country,” Van Hooydonck said.

That quickly changed once they left the airport and attempted to continue towards Tignes.

“We wanted to drive to Tignes, but we spent four hours in the car just trying to get out of the country. All the border crossings were closed and we were completely stuck in traffic.”

As the delays continued, the group began to accept that reaching the altitude camp that evening might no longer be realistic.

“At one point, we genuinely thought we would have to find somewhere to sleep because otherwise we would not arrive in Tignes at a reasonable hour,” Van Hooydonck said.

They eventually managed to cross the border before stopping for the night close to Geneva.

“We pulled over just across the Swiss border because we were already taking into account that the same thing might happen the following day,” he explained. “At least from there, we would be able to drive freely towards Tignes in the morning.”

The scale of the disruption only became fully apparent when Van Hooydonck checked the route again the next day.

“We found a hotel around fifteen minutes from Geneva,” he said. “The following morning, I looked at the normal route between the hotel and the airport.”

“It was supposed to take fifteen minutes. We had spent four hours covering it. It was absolutely terrible.”

There was also an ironic cycling connection to Trump’s visit.

During the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron presented each of the attending leaders with a personalised bicycle made by French manufacturer Look.

The gifts formed part of France’s promotion of the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships, which will be staged across the Haute Savoie region.

Évian will host the cycling esports competition, while the road races are scheduled to take place around Sallanches and the Côte de Domancy, one of the most famous climbs in French cycling history.