Jonas Vingegaard has said that his wife Trine Hansen's comments on Visma-Lease A Bike's Tour de France priorities have "been taken out of context", saying that Danish media "made a story out of nothing."
Earlier this week, Hansen gave an interview to Politiken in which she appeared to question the Dutch squad's Tour planning, saying that the team was "pushing Jonas too far now" and that "if you focus on stage wins for others, you're not fully focussed on Jonas."
Team directeur sportif Grischa Niermann said on Sunday that the comments had been "taken out of proportion", noting that the team's Tour plans are constantly discussed with Vingegaard and his family.
Speaking to Dutch broadcaster NOS, Vingegaard also sought to downplay his wife's comments.
"It has been taken out of context. She said something and the media in Denmark made a story out of nothing," he said on ahead of stage 3 on Monday.
"She said something and the media put a spin on it. That's what the media do. That's the Tour de France, I think. You have limited time and you are wasting it on something that is not important, instead of on the race."
Visma-Lease A Bike managing director Richard Plugge was blunter when asked about what Hansen had said, while also reiterating Niermann's perspective on the matter.
"I don't know what happened and I don't care," he told Ekstra Bladet on Tuesday morning. "The most important thing is that we are together as a team, and we help Jonas to win the Tour de France.
"We're here to win the Tour with Jonas so everything we do is with that goal in mind. We have a really good plan which we discussed with him and her [Trine Hansen] in October.
"She supports the team a lot because she also wants Jonas to win the Tour. She always thinks about the goal, and the biggest goal is to win the Tour with Jonas."
Wout van Aert, seemingly the target of comments Hansen made about the team's split focus at the Tour, was asked about the issue by Sporza.
"We were surprised to read that yesterday after the stage," Van Aert said of the comments. "I don't want to say too much about it. My performance for this team speaks for itself.
"I consider this team as my team and I always go 100% for the goals we set. Like here at the Tour, one of those goals is a stage win for me. That's clear to everyone, including Jonas, and that's what we're going for.
"Of course [we're still friends]," he added, referring to Vingegaard. "But I think it was good to talk about it.
"Also, it's not Jonas who said anything either. I regret what was said, but people who know me know they can count on me."
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