Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard will not be on the start line of the elite men's road race at the World Championships in Australia and the Danish cycling chief says he cannot understand why the rider is declining international selection.
Vingegaard has never ridden for the elite Danish national team and in the last two seasons has declined selection for the Worlds, Europeans and OIympics, with Jumbo Visma citing his team commitments.
Morten Bennekou, the chief of the elite programme of Danmarks Cykle Union said the selections offered to the rider have been turned down by Jumbo Visma rather than Vingegaard himself.
“It is unclear to us why Vingegaard will not drive for the national team. He did in the U23, so we don't understand why he is no longer participating," said Bennekou.
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“We accept it if Jonas does not want, is not allowed or cannot ride for the national team. Then we should be happy that we have other horses to bet on. Our success does not stand or fall with Jonas. But we would like to have him there.
“The national coach is in constant dialogue with his team. But we don't have any pressure, we can't force anything. For example, at Jumbo-Visma they believed that Jonas would go to the Olympics with 'empty batteries' after three tough Tour weeks.
"About the World Championships, they said it did not match his goals for the autumn but Jonas himself gave no reason for his cancellation."
In Vingegaard's absence, Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech) will lead the Danish national team in the elite men's race in Wollongong. Also selected are Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates), Mikkel Honoré (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl), Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo), Alexander Kamp (Trek-Segafredo), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Michael Mørkøv (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Anthon Charmig (Uno-X).
