Jonas Vingegaard reflects on striking Donald Trump story at the Tour de France: 'It was absolutely terrible'

In the run-up to the Tour de France, a wild story suddenly surfaced on the De Rode Lantaarn podcast: Nathan Van Hooydonck revealed that he and Jonas Vingegaard had been held up during their preparations by none other than... Donald Trump, the President of the United States. Vingegaard provided further clarification at the Tour de France on Thursday.

It was Nathan Van Hooydonck—still then a member of Visma | Lease a Bike—who revealed this on the podcast. “Jonas has had indirect contact with Donald Trump,” the Belgian said.

"When we flew to Tignes, we landed in Geneva," Van Hooydonck explains. “Jonas asked if I’d seen a certain plane parked there when we landed, but I wasn’t sitting on the right side. I hadn’t seen it. I asked him, ‘Which plane was there, then?’ It turned out to be Air Force One. Donald Trump was there for the G7 summit, too.”

From Geneva, they had to make the trip to Tignes, where Visma | Lease a Bike traditionally holds its high-altitude training camps in preparation for the Tour. “We hadn’t given a moment’s thought to how much of an impact that has on a country. We spent four hours in the car just to get out of the country, because all the border crossings were closed. The traffic jam we were stuck in was terrifying.”

"We thought: we have to find a place to sleep, because we won't make it back to Tignes at a reasonable hour," Van Hooydonck continues. "We drove just across the border, because we were afraid it would be the same thing the next day. That way, at least, we could drive to Tignes without any problems the next morning."

"We looked for a hotel a quarter of an hour from Geneva. The next morning, I checked the route from that hotel to the airport. It was supposed to be a fifteen-minute drive, but it took us four hours. It was absolutely terrible," said the Belgian.

Vingegaard was also asked about this during his press conference leading up to the Tour de France. “Well, it wasn’t exactly that stressful. We landed at the Geneva airport and at that point knew nothing about the G7 summit taking place there,” said the Danish team leader of Visma | Lease a Bike.

"Maybe I should have looked into that myself beforehand, but I wasn't aware of it. When we wanted to leave, we almost couldn't get out of the country. We ended up sitting in the car until half past eleven or midnight before we could cross the border. We ended up spending the night on the other side of the border,” he confirms Van Hooydonck’s account with a smile.