UAE Team Emirates group supervisor Joxean Fernández Matxin has mentioned that it’s “solely proper” that double Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) can be collaborating within the race this yr and that “I do not doubt that even when he had a ten% probability of successful, I’d have accomplished the identical.”
Vingegaard’s Tour de France participation was thrown into appreciable doubt when he was badly injured in a significant mass crash within the Itzulia Basque Country in April. Since then he has not raced however has concentrated totally on restoration.
The definitive announcement each he and Wout van Aert could be racing within the Tour was made on Thursday. Giro d’Italia winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) will now be dealing with the double Tour de France champion in addition to the highest Belgian racer in a key help position as he battles to turn into the primary rider to do the double and take each Grand Tours back-to-back since Marco Pantani in 1998.
“It’s solely proper,” group supervisor Joxean Fernández Matxin informed Cyclingnews. “He’s a rider who’s received the Tour for the final two years and he’s obtained to be motivated to attempt to win the very best race on this planet once more.
“I’ve little doubt that even when he solely had a ten% probability of successful, I’d have accomplished the identical [and brought him].”
With the presence of Vingegaard added to the already confirmed participation of Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe), the Tour can be much more spectacular than earlier than, Matxin agreed.
But by way of how this can change the race by way of technique for Pogačar and UAE, Matxin mentioned this is able to not alter something, reasoning that that they had already factored in Vingegaard’s participation again in December.
“We’d already deliberate issues out with our eight riders for the Tour proper again at that coaching camp in December and we already had the concept Jonas Vingegaard could be collaborating, he hadn’t crashed at that time. So we haven’t modified our perspective in any respect,” he mentioned.
However, the truth that Vingegaard has not raced since April post-injury may maybe change the way in which Vingegaard races, no less than within the early a part of the Tour, Matxin noticed to Cyclingnews.
“It may create a number of small doubts in his thoughts, possibly about how he’s going. We had the identical scenario final yr with Tadej” – after his crash in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and fractured wrist damage – “that was apparent.”
“You need to understand how you’re doing, what your stage is in comparison with the rivals.”
The different new addition for the Visma-Lease A Bike Tour de France line-up introduced on Thursday can be Van Aert, a massively profitable Tour racer in his personal proper, with victories in all types of various terrain and, along with Sepp Kuss and Roglič, a righthand man for Vingegaard within the mountains of the 2022 race. Van Aert was set for the Giro d’Italia, however accidents incurred in his personal dangerous crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen meant a dramatic rethink of a part of his 2024 plans.
“He’s among the finest riders on this planet, what extra is there to say about Van Aert?” Matxin commented. “The incontrovertible fact that he couldn’t go to the Giro due to that crash means he’s needed to change path and head for the Tour.”
But as he added, Visma-Lease a Bike have been at all times all however destined to be a key participant collectively in addition to by way of particular person riders, within the upcoming Tour. “The complete group goes to be massively, massively necessary. They received the three Grand Tours in 2023, how may they be something however necessary this yr within the Tour?”
As for Pogacar and his plans for successful a Giro-Tour double, Matxin argued that from their very own viewpoint, “We stay focussed on what we do, slightly than eager about what our rivals may do. We must preserve very a lot in thoughts who they’re after all, however we now have to work on what we are able to work on, and that’s our group. And Tadej is concentrating on his work, his coaching and on doing issues in addition to attainable to get to the Tour at 120%.”
