Vingegaard undergoes successful surgery as Kuss says Tour return already on his mind

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) has reportedly undergone successful surgery after abandoning the Tour de France, while his teammate Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) says the Dane is already looking forward to a return to the Tour next summer. 

“It went well. They did what they had to. It wasn't the most complicated operation you can have. Everything went well,” sports director Marc Reef told TV2 Sport about the surgery.

Vingegaard suffered a crash on the run-in to Plateau de Solaison, at which point Visma had taken control of the pace-setting in the peloton, signalling their intent to race aggressively on the hors catégorie summit finish. The crash left the Dane with a fractured collarbone.

The two-time champion had started the stage in second overall, 4:30 behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). His withdrawal marked the first time that Vingegaard hasn’t finished in the top two at the Tour since making his debut in 2021. 

Speaking after Tuesday’s individual time trial, Vingegaard’s climbing lieutenant and former Vuelta a España champion Kuss admitted the bitter feeling of seeing the Dane crash out was heightened by the fact that the Dutch team felt they had reached the terrain where they could make their mark on the race. 

“Disappointing because I think our part of the race was just kind of starting that stage [15] and yeah, just before the last climb it happened. So it's a bit of what could have been,” Kuss told Cyclism’Actu. 

Kuss explained how the team have shifted their ambitions and mindset with the loss of their team leader, in order to gain the most out of the third and final week.

“I think we still have a really good group and the focus is already switched,” he said. “I mean we miss Jonas, but I think we're just looking forward to going for the next stages together and should have a lot of fun."

Kuss was asked about the mental state of Vingegaard and how the Dane picks himself back up after a bitter blow. The American highlighted the mental fortitude of professional cyclists, as well as the Dane's previous setbacks, confirming he has no doubts Vingegaard is already looking forward to returning to the Tour next summer.

“Yeah, I mean, over the years you get used to having disappointments, and it's part of the sport and crashes happen and for us already, Jonas that night, he was of course disappointed, but he was in a good mood, and he also knows that it can be worse,” said Kuss. 

“He's had worse crashes in his career, and he knows he'll be back next year and he's already looking forward to that,” he said. 

“So I think it's just about switching mentally, which you're pretty used to doing as a cyclist because there's usually more disappointments than victories."

Reef also shed some light on Vingegaard and Visma’s plans for the remainder of the season, confirming that any decision on the Dane's return to racing would be made after the Tour, following an assessment of his recovery.

“It's something we'll discuss after the Tour, and after the Tour we'll sit down and talk about what's going to happen. It's already been a tough season,” he said. 

Before the Tour, Vingegaard won Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya before becoming just the eighth male rider to complete the Grand Tour triple with victory at the Giro d'Italia in May.