Double Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) has stated that he thinks skilled biking is just too harmful for him to permit his youngsters to take part in it, have been they to ask if they may comply with in his wheeltracks.
Vingegaard suffered life-threatening accidents in a mass crash final yr within the Itzulia Basque Country, through which quite a few riders have been harm.
In a prolonged interview throughout the Volta ao Algarve with Nieuwsblad, Vingegaard stated that organisers had a job to play in making the game safer, in addition to the UCI.
But he additionally stated that some riders have been partly chargeable for the game having its dangers, arguing that some riders “race as if there are not any brakes on a motorbike.”
Asked by Nieuwsblad if he would let his two youngsters race once they have been older, Vingegaard answered: “To be sincere, if my daughter or son asks that query – ‘daddy, can we race?’ – the reply is ‘no’. The manner the game is now… It’s simply too harmful.”
Currently collaborating in Paris-Nice, throughout the interview Vingegaard additionally mentioned his Itzulia crash on a sweeping, quick downhill part of street operating by way of dense woodland, explaining that in his opinion the organisers had made an error by “sending us down a street with tree roots beneath it”.
However, he stated that different components involving the riders additionally made racing extra harmful too.
The newest race content material, interviews, options, opinions and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
“We riders additionally struggle and race at occasions when it’s not actually vital. That was additionally noticeable within the Algarve: typically we struggle for place for a bend that goes nowhere. Sometimes there’s too little respect.”
Vingegaard additionally identified that riders battling for place might have been chargeable for the horrible crash suffered by teammate Wout van Aert final yr in Dwars door Vlaanderen. He concluded: “Too many riders race as if there are not any brakes on a motorbike.”
“In normal, I’d say that everybody in biking wants to understand the dimensions of the protection downside. That continues to be not the case sufficient. And everybody has a duty: the riders themselves, the organisers and the UCI.”
This is just not the primary time Vingegaard has mentioned race security this season in public. At the Volta ao Algarve, after quite a few riders went off target late on stage 1, the subsequent day initially Vingegaard referred to as on the UCI to take motion.
“Something like this should not occur in biking, I believe the organisers ought to take this significantly and the UCI as properly,” Vingegaard stated.
“It wasn’t actually clear the place we needed to go. In my opinion, in a dash we’ve got to have it clear the place we’ve got to go and the place we must always not go.”
In the wide-ranging interview, Vingegaard additionally mentioned how he had solely begun succeeding at a comparatively late age within the sport, how Wout van Aert was the “finest helper you possibly can have in a race,” and his excessive nervousness as a younger beginner and once more as a younger professional, which brought on him to vomit at occasions from his nervousness throughout races themselves.
He additionally rejected the concept his racing model was on no account spontaneous, pointing to a stage within the Tour de France in 2023 the place Visma modified their technique mid-race as a result of they intuited – appropriately – that arch-rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had been susceptible to assault.
“Tadej has his model, I’ve mine. But typically it bothers me a bit once we are portrayed as ‘calculated’,” he stated.
“Sometimes we actually do issues on instinct. An instance: on the stage to Marie Blanc in 2023 within the Tour we stated upfront that we would definitely not assault. But in the long run we felt that Pogačar was at his restrict and we modified every thing.”
Strategies for Paris-Nice
In a separate interview with one other Belgian newspaper, Het Laatste Nieuws,, Vingegaard mentioned his Paris-Nice participation and confirmed that he was attempting to win as many WorldTour week-long stage races as attainable. The Dane’s solely earlier participation in Paris-Nice, in 2023, resulted in a 3rd place total behind Tadej Pogačar and David Gaudu.
“That’s why I’m using the Volta a Catalunya as a substitute of the Tour of the Basque Country,” Vingegaard defined. “Winning all of them is sort of inconceivable, however I wish to attempt to acquire as many as I can.”
Vingegaard additionally instructed the newspaper that there was no problem with Matteo Jorgenson, his teammate, additionally desirous to win Paris-Nice and added that though he has not been at altitude but and was not in prime kind, after an total win within the Volta ao Algarve, he hoped to take “an additional step” within the Course au Soleil.
“You win as a crew. We have already confirmed that we will also be at our greatest with a number of leaders initially.”
“We [Vingegaard and Jorgenson] have a superb relationship. I’m not a egocentric man who solely thinks of himself. If he will get right into a extra promising place than me, I’ll gladly sacrifice myself;” he defined.
“I don’t see Matteo as a rival, however as an ally. In the Algarve I used to be a bit remoted, which made it tough at occasions. With an additional asset that adjustments. Now we will make issues harder for the opposition.”