Jonas Vingegaard will not be at the start of the Critérium du Dauphiné on June 2, according to Wielerflits.nl, but the team is still hoping that he will recover in time to defend his Tour de France title in July.
Vingegaard crashed on a descent during stage 4 of the Itzulia Basque Country on April 4 and suffered a broken collarbone and ribs, and a collapsed lung. He was only discharged from the hospital in Spain on April 16.
Sport director Merijn Zeeman also confirmed to Wielerflits that Vingegaard would not attend the Tour team's training camp in Sierra Nevada this weekend.
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"Winning the Tour will be difficult for Jonas, but it is certainly not impossible," Zeeman said. "He is busy every day with his rehabilitation under the guidance of our medical staff and physiotherapists. We will certainly keep open the possibility that he will make it to the start of the Tour in Florence. Jonas is extremely talented and we know that he also recovers extremely quickly.
"Every week, we take stock. The medical staff cannot say much at the moment about the program he can follow in the coming period. We have to wait and see, but we certainly still have hope that he can defend his Tour title."
Wout van Aert will also miss the altitude camp as he continues to come back from a broken sternum, ribs and collarbone from his crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen, but has been riding his mountain bike as part of his gradual recovery.
Van Aert was meant to be racing the Giro d'Italia but his injuries prevented his participation. Zeeman said they would "keep all options open" in the next few weeks as they measure both riders' recovery.
"Does Jonas need the Dauphiné to be in good shape for the Tour? That's not necessarily necessary," Zeeman said. "The Dauphiné is certainly not a key race for Jonas towards the Tour. In 2021 he rode the Dauphiné after he was also recovering from an injury. Only in the last stage did he get through, and he finished second in that stage. I am convinced that with a good training block in that period, Jonas can also work on his form to arrive at the start of the Tour in top form."
The team could not state when Van Aert would return, although there has been speculation he could race the Tour of Norway at the end of this month. Zeeman denied this. "Wout has not yet reached the point where we can make that choice now. In the most favourable scenario, Norway is feasible for him. But nothing can be said about that yet."
