"You're missing the best party of the year" and famous Billie Jean King quote: Plugge on Tour participation for Vingegaard

During the celebration of his Vuelta victory in Den Bosch, the Dane pointed out the difference between the Vuelta and the Tour. “There is not nearly as much stress as in the Tour, although I was able to manage my mental fatigue well there this year. In the Tour, there are 25 TV journalists every day who want something from me, and I know how to deal with that, but in the Vuelta, there are two or three.”

Where Pogacar seemed to hint cautiously at a year without the Tour, Vingegaard realizes that this option may not be possible. “The Tour is still the Tour, and that's how the team will look at it,” he said at the time. He cautiously suggested that he also sees the Giro d'Italia as a realistic option in 2026, after having already wanted to ride it in 2025.

Vingegaard recently stated that he does not see himself skipping the Tour in the coming years. “Maybe, if one day I can no longer compete for the victory. Not before that. I think that for me, and perhaps also for Tadej, the Tour is so big that teams that have a contender for the victory want to participate.”

Team manager Plugge said in an interview with IDLProCycling.com that he understands the burden of the Tour on his team leader. “Jonas really wants to go to the Tour, but of course, there is enormous pressure and it is very hectic. For all of us.”

“I understand very well that you sometimes think: is this really necessary? But at the same time, if you're not there, you're missing the best party of the year. And he knows that too, so he really wants to be there,” said the Dutchman.

“We still have to discuss exactly how we're going to do it. The pressure is no different than it was a few years ago. I always say: Pressure is privilege,” Plugge quotes tennis player Billie Jea

Sports director Niermann already shared his thoughts after the Tour route presentation. "Overall, the route looks nice. Of course we will have to analyse it further and dive into each stage, but there are defenitly a lot of mountains, which is good. We start the race with a team time trial, and we always put focus on those, so that’s a good opportunity to go for the stage win and also hopefully win a little time."

"I also think the intermediate stages look quite interesting. The mountains are spread out over the course, but it’s still quite backloaded with a hard last week. It looks like stage 20 will be the big queen stage of the race with multiple long climbs, so hopefully the fight for the yellow jersey will still be on by then."

"Croix de Fer and Galibier are beautiful but really hard. Alpe d’Huez is indeed also a very iconic climb, but stage 19 will be more explosive with a big showdown there, as there are no major climbs before. The Tour de France is always a hard a race, and next year will be the same. It could suit Jonas well, but again, we have to look further into the stages," said the German.