Dane Jonas Vingegaard experienced "
difficult times
" after his Tour de France victory, the sports director of his Jumbo Visma training said on Thursday.
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The 25-year-old rider, who was not at the start of the Tour of Denmark on Tuesday and will be absent from the next road world championships, to the chagrin of his fans and the federation, has kept a low profile since his triumphant welcome in Copenhagen a few days later. his victory.
“
I understand that viewers want to see Jonas, and I spoke to him about it yesterday.
But he had very difficult moments after the Tour
,” Frans Maassen told the daily Ekstra Bladet.
Read alsoTour de France: Vingegaard, the coronation of a team and a country
“
We would have liked to show it in this race, but we also have to understand that it was difficult to win the Tour and with everything that followed
,” he explained.
In addition, his presence at the start of the Danish competition would have increased the pressure around Vingegaard, he argued.
The climber has not publicly commented on his absence.
Jonas Vingegaard on his return to Denmark.
HENNING BAGGER / AFP
"
It's one thing to be physically ready, but you also have to be mentally ready
," Tour of Denmark official Frank Hyldgaard told local news agency Ritzau.
After having “
invested a lot
” in the Grande Boucle, “
there is no doubt that it is well done now
”, added the cyclist from Quickstep, the Dane Michael Mørkøv to the daily Ekstra Bladet.
For nearly a year, the question of the mental health of high-level athletes, subjected to extreme stress, has gradually come out of the unsaid and the psychological dimension is increasingly taken into account.
