'Big question mark' over Vingegaard's chances of making Tour

Defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is far from certain to be fit for cycling's flagship race on June 29.

The Dane recently returned to training after a serious crash in the Tour of the Basque Country on April 4 where he suffered fractures and a punctured lung.

"We hope that Jonas will make it for the Tour. That's still a big question mark," Marc Reef, sporting director of Vingegaard's Visma team, told radsport-news.com before the start of the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday.

"His recovery is going quite well, but we'll have to see how it goes in the coming weeks."

Vingegaard, the 2022 and 2023 Tour champion, is therefore skipping all races until the Tour gets under way in Florence.

On resuming training at the start of May, the 27-year-old said he still hoped to compete in the Tour.

His biggest rival Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, who is currently dominating the Giro and won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, would look to be the biggest beneficiary if Vingegaard cannot race.