Jonas Vingegaard skips Rwanda Worlds showdown with Pogacar

Jonas Vingegaard will not race against Tadej Pogačar at the World Championships in Rwanda next month. The Dane made the announcement during his pre-Vuelta a España press conference on Thursday, when he indicated that he would instead focus on the road race at the European Championships.

Although Vingegaard has never raced the Worlds as a professional, he was widely viewed as a contender for the demanding Kigali course. His absence means that Remco Evenepoel is likely to line up as the biggest threat to Pogačar’s defence of his rainbow jersey.

“We decided not to go to the Worlds, it doesn’t really fit into the plans,” Vingegaard said in a video call on Thursday.

“We have decided that we want to go for the Europeans instead. You need to be really fresh to go to World Championships this year. It requires a lot of the riders participating in it, and we don’t how I’ll come out of the Vuelta. We decided it was better not to do it. I still want to do the European Championships instead and I’ll have some time after the Vuelta to focus on that.”

The Worlds road race takes place on September 28, just two weeks after the end of the Vuelta, while the European Championships road race takes place a week later on October 5 on a tough course in the Drôme-Ardèche. Pogačar is expected to double up at the Worlds and European Championships.

Vingegaard confirmed that he would not race the time trial at the European Championships and he also indicated that Il Lombardia is not on his schedule.

“No, I don’t plan to do the time trial. I just plan to do the road race and that’s it,” he said. “And for now, no, there is no Lombardia [on the programme].”

Vingegaard lines out as the overwhelming favourite for victory at the Vuelta, where he placed second overall behind teammate Sepp Kuss two years ago. He revealed that he had suffered a minor illness during his pre-Vuelta training in Annecy, France, though he downplayed its impact on his form.

“I had a small, small sickness but it was very minor and I don’t feel like it affected me,” he said. “I had a good training period, I did almost everything I wanted. I just had a small setback but that was really minor. I feel like the shape is good and I’m ready for the next three weeks of racing.”