Visma-Lease a Bike have introduced that Jonas Vingegaard won’t be taking the beginning of the upcoming Volta a Catalunya (March 24-30), with the Dane as an alternative taking time to recuperate from a crash at Paris-Nice.
Vingegaard pulled out of Paris-Nice forward of the sixth stage after crashing on the fifth stage, a hilltop end at La Côte-Saint-André. He suffered a hand contusion in addition to dizziness and ache in his face however went on to complete the stage.
However, his accidents now imply that he gained’t be collaborating in Catalunya, Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed on Wednesday morning.
“Jonas Vingegaard has not but recovered sufficiently from his crash in Paris-Nice. Therefore, he won’t begin within the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. We want him a speedy restoration!” the workforce wrote in a press release on social media.
Instead, the Dutch squad will likely be led by Simon Yates and Sepp Kuss. The pair will likely be joined for the week-long stage race by Steven Kruijswijk, Wilco Kelderman, Bart Lemmen, Matthew Brennan and Menno Huising.
The query for Vingegaard now’s the place his subsequent race will likely be. His run-up to a tilt at a 3rd Tour de France title was set to incorporate simply two extra races – Catalunya and the Critérium du Dauphiné (June 8-15), with a vacation and altitude camp coming between the pair of races.
Previous campaigns have seen him tackle Itzulia Basque Country in April earlier than returning for the Dauphiné and Tour, although how prepared he can be to return to the race, the positioning of his life-threatening crash final spring, is questionable.
In the meantime, Yates and Kuss will lead Visma in opposition to a number of different prime GC contenders at Catalunya, the place summit finishes at La Molina, Montserrat Mil·lenari, and Queralt are set to determine the champion.
Joining the 2 leaders on the provisional startlist for the 104th version of the race are UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo Adam Yates and Juan Ayuso, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Enric Mas (Movistar), Ineos Grenadiers Geraint Thomas pairing Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), amongst others.
