Jonas Vingegaard confirms race schedule ahead of Tour de France

Jonas Vingegaard will only ride the Critérium du Dauphiné before the Tour de France in July, Visma-Lease a Bike announced on Thursday morning.

So far this year, the Danish two-time winner of the French Grand Tour has ridden just the Volta ao Algarve, which he won overall, and five stages of Paris-Nice. A crash on stage five of the 'Race to the Sun' meant he was unable to start the following day.

It was initially reported that Vingegaard had suffered a wrist injury in the fall, but he later said that he had experienced a concussion. The 28-year-old was due to race the Volta a Catalunya but was unable to start due to his injuries.

In an announcement on Thursday, Vingegaard's team said "physically everything is back to normal" for the Dane, who has now begun his Tour de France preparation.

This included a recent wind tunnel test in Denmark and will involve a high altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada in Spain before the Dauphiné in June.

"This week I was working in the wind tunnel in Aalborg. We made preparations for the Tour de France there, specifically focusing on my position on the bike. It’s important to work on that and to leave nothing to chance," Vingegaard said.

He added: "The focus is now fully on the Tour de France. The preparations for this race have truly begun. I no longer have any issues from the concussion I sustained earlier, or any other physical problems. It was really unfortunate that I couldn’t finish Paris-Nice and also had to miss the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. But now I’m training without any problems and will soon head to the altitude camp.

"I'm really looking forward to racing again. I haven't raced much this past year, so I'm eager to get started again. That goes for both the Critérium du Dauphiné and, of course, the Tour de France. But first, I'll go to altitude training to get in shape. After that, I’ll try to win those races."

Vingegaard will also be part of Visma’s usual pre-Tour de France camp at Tignes in the French Alps. The race is set to begin on 5 July in Lille before concluding in Paris three weeks later.