Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert head to altitude camp, Tour de France on the cards

Eight weeks on from a horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country that left him with a broken collarbone, several fractured ribs and a punctured lung, Jonas Vingegaard is back at altitude camp, with the two-time reigning Tour de France champion training in Tignes since Tuesday.

The Visma-Lease a Bike star will be joined in France by teammate Wout van Aert on Sunday, who has been going through his own process of recovery from a high-speed crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen that left him with a broken sternum, collarbone and seven fractured ribs.

Van Aert made his comeback to racing at the Tour of Norway last week and enjoyed a better-than-expected race, with the 29-year-old reporting no pain and clocking up a third-place finish on the final day. It is understood that the nine-time Tour de France stage winner is sleeping in an altitude tent at home in Belgium this week and will join Vingegaard in Tignes on Sunday.

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, Van Aert is now scheduled to ride the Tour de France for Visma-Lease a Bike, so long as his block of altitude training goes as expected.

Read more: Wout van Aert makes successful comeback in Norway: 'A lot of uncertainty gone now'

As for Vingegaard, the Dane spent 12 days in a Spanish hospital after his crash in April, but he was spotted training in Denmark on 7 May, enjoyed a spell in Mallorca over the past couple of weeks and has been training at altitude in Tignes since Tuesday. His coach Tim Heemskerk spoke to the Danish outlet BK about the 27-year-old's progress.

"He has been away with the family in Mallorca, but now he is starting the altitude training in Tignes. It's a new step for him, and now it's starting to look like normal training," he said, noting that the first few days in Tignes would be spent adjusting to the altitude rather than all-out training.

"He has prepared in the best possible way by climbing a bit and practising descents in Mallorca, where for the first time he really got up to speed again. It was about being somewhere with a good climate and where he could enjoy the time around training with his family. In Tignes, it's more about performance with normal training, massage etc."

No decision made on Vingegaard's Tour de France defence

Vingegaard and Van Aert will be joined in Tignes by Visma-Lease a Bike's prospective Tour de France squad after the Critérium du Dauphiné, which will include the likes of Dylan van Baarle, Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson. The ski resort in France is the team's usual stomping ground and has riders based at 2,100m above sea level.

Whilst Van Aert's participation in the Tour de France is looking increasingly likely by the day, a decision is yet to be made on Vingegaard. The Dane reportedly told a fellow Danish athlete that he would be at the Tour this summer, but despite the two-time reigning champion's eagerness, his team will make the decision ultimately.

“I think that he’s doing pretty well but he needs to be at 100 per cent to go there,” team boss Richard Plugge told GCN last week.

"We’re looking at how we can go into the Tour de France with the best team possible. Because if we go there we want to win it again so we need to be 100% with everyone going there. Hopefully, Jonas can make it but now we wait and see."

Read more: Visma-Lease a Bike build towards Tour de France with Vingegaard and Van Aert in mind

Heemskerk similarly refused to be drawn on a decision, insisting to BK that the focus for the Dane remains on getting back up to full speed after his remarkable recovery from injury.

"We try to increase his fitness on the bike, but also to strengthen his shoulder through exercises and get him closer to the optimal weight," he said.

"My hope is that he can train with the rest of the team when they come to Tignes after the Dauphiné for training camp before the Tour and become a full member of the team. No decision has been made yet [on the Tour]. Right now, the most important thing is today and tomorrow."

Vingegaard's participation, then, remains up in the air as the 27-year-old hits the mountains in south-east France. But Visma-Lease a Bike look on track to take Van Aert to the Tour de France for a sixth time, which will be a big boost after the Belgian was forced to miss the Giro d'Italia.

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