Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) looks set to go to La Vuelta with the intention of winning, after his comprehensive defeat at the Tour de France, before then turning his attention to the UCI World Road Championships.
The Dane has only ever ridden the Worlds once, placing 63rd in the U23 race race in on home roads in Denmark; a race won by Marc Hirschi (Switzerland) from Bjorg Lambrecht (Belgium) and Jaakko Hänninen (Finland).
Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar was 19th on the day, with Conn McDunphy the only other finisher for Ireland, in 83rd, in a team that also featured Daire Feeley, Michael O’Loughlin and Darragh O’Mahony.
Vingegaard will go into the Worlds, assuming the Vuelta goes well, chasing gold despite rarely riding one-day races. He has claimed just one victory in a one-day race in his career, Drôme Classic (1.Pro) in 2022.
However, his national team coach, Michael Mørkøv, believes Vingegaard can aim for gold in Rwanda. The elite men’s race will be run over 267.5km – with 5,400m of climbing – in Kigali on September 28th on a course between 1,400m and 1,765m above sea level.
“It’s been the plan all along,” Mørkøv told Feltet.dk of Vingegaard aiming for the world title race. “When I spoke with Jonas over the winter, he made it clear he was motivated for the Worlds. He’s at a point in his career where his eyes are fixed on the big championships.
“The course really suits him,” Mørkøv added. “One of the key factors is the altitude – something Jonas has proven he handles extremely well, thanks to his body composition. Add in the amount of climbing, and you’ve got a very hard race. I think it’s an ideal route for him.”
There will be just two weeks of recovery for any rider who plans to ride the Worlds after La Vuelta, but Mørkøv says the lack of an altitude training camp for Vingegaard will not be an issue.
“If you’re racing the Vuelta, there’s not really time to train at altitude beforehand – but I still think it’s good preparation,” he said. “Riders like Jonas are already well-adapted to performing at altitude. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
