Jonas Vingegaard looks set to ride the elite road race at the UCI World Road Championships for the first time ever later this year, with the title race in Rwanda now part of his provisional schedule.
The Dane will first target the Tour de France, the most important goal of the year, and will also ride La Vuelta. The Worlds is also on the agenda, with Danish national coach Michael Morkov already saying he was very hopeful Vingegaard could win the world title this year.
Vingegaard has only ever been part of the Danish team once at a Worlds, when he rode the U23 race in Innsbruck in 2018, when Marc Hirschi (Switzerland) was crowned champion.
However, with this year's World Championships taking place on a climbers' course, and at altitude, in Rwanda, it offers a rare opportunity for riders like Vingegaard to try and win the rainbow jersey.
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His main target will be the Tour de France, which he won in 2022 and 2023, as he aims to return to that race in full health - after his crash last April - in a bid to topple 2024 race winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
"My biggest goal will, of course, be the Tour de France, to try to win it for the third time," Vingegaard said in an interview released by his Visma-Lease a Bike team.
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"Then in spring, I will do Paris-Nice, Catalunya and then also later on the Vuelta," Vingegaard said, adding Volta ao Algarve and Critérium du Dauphiné were also in his plans.
"I'm really motivated for all of these races. I've not won Paris-Nice yet, I was there two years ago but couldn't win. But of course, I'm eager to come back and go for the victory.
"To be honest, 2024 was a bit of a crazy year, it started super-well with victories in Gran Camino and in Tirreno, I was stronger than ever been before.
"Then of course I had the nasty crash in Basque and it was a big setback and it took me a long time to get back. To be honest, I think it was quite a lot worse than people know.
"So that I was actually able to make it to the Tour was a victory in itself. I'm very proud of doing that, and I was very happy I was there.
"Everything after that was a bonus, so to be second in the Tour and to win a stage was really incredible for me, I'm really happy with that."
