Visma set new Tour de France target after Jonas Vingegaard crash

Jonas Vingegaard left the Tour de France on Monday evening, barely 24 hours after his hopes of winning the race disappeared on a roundabout in Amancy.

The Visma | Lease a Bike leader fractured his collarbone in Sunday’s crash and is scheduled to undergo surgery in Denmark on Tuesday. His recovery timeline will only become clear once the procedure has been completed.

Before flying home to Denmark on Monday evening, Vingegaard joined his teammates for breakfast one final time. According to Reef, the morning after the crash was an unusual and painful moment for both the rider and the rest of the team.

“It had become a very strange situation, especially for Jonas,” Reef told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. “Everything this year was focused on winning the Tour de France. When that is taken away from you so abruptly, it is incredibly cruel.”

Vingegaard was sitting alongside riders with whom he had spent months working towards one shared objective.

“You have to imagine Jonas sitting at the table with riders with whom he had been working towards that goal for a very long time,” Reef explained. “For him, it was wiped away by the crash, while the others are still able to continue.”

Despite his own disappointment, Vingegaard addressed his teammates before leaving the race.

“Jonas said he was very disappointed because he could no longer continue the fight alongside them,” Reef said. “He said it was especially bitter because we had been well on our way.”

Vingegaard also encouraged the riders who remained in the Tour to continue fighting.

“Finally, he praised the guys and told them they were all in good shape,” Reef continued. “He said they had to keep fighting and, by doing so, show what we stand for.”

Vingegaard’s departure has left Visma | Lease a Bike without a contender for the general classification. The team must now reset its ambitions for the remaining stages.

“I think the most important thing is that we show resilience over the next week,” Reef said. “We are going for that second stage victory. If we can achieve that, we can be very satisfied.”

Visma | Lease a Bike have already claimed one stage victory at this year’s Tour, winning the opening team time trial in Barcelona. Regrouping after the loss of their leader, however, will be a far greater challenge.

“For some riders, it is easier to make that mental switch than for others, because every personality is different,” Reef said.

“Some can, so to speak, start looking ahead as soon as they have had a shower. For some of the others, that takes more time, and they need a little more attention.”

After Tuesday’s time trial, Sepp Kuss said the team had already begun to look ahead.

“It is disappointing because our part of the race was only really starting,” Kuss told Cyclism'Actu. “We miss Jonas, but we still have a really good group and the focus has already switched. We are looking forward to racing the next stages together.”

The change in strategy could now give Kuss greater freedom in the final mountain stages. The former Vuelta a España winner confirmed that he would like to join breakaways and compete for a stage victory, with stages 19 and 20 among the most attractive opportunities.

“I would definitely like to be in the break in the harder mountain stages,” Kuss said. “Just being at the front of a Tour de France stage is special in itself.

“It will depend on what UAE want to do, but we will try on every day that gives us an opportunity.”