Mørkøv rejects theory that Vingegaard has no interest in the rainbow jersey

Michael Mørkøv has pushed back on the suggestion that Jonas Vingegaard does not want to be world champion, saying the rider has repeatedly told him otherwise.

Brian Holm had aired the theory on the Cafe Eddy podcast earlier this week, but Mørkøv pushed back against the idea ahead of Sunday's road race in Montréal.

"No, that is not a feeling I have. Jonas has indicated to me that he really wants to be part of the Danish national team, both last year and this year," Mørkøv told Feltet. "He said early in the season that he wants to ride the Worlds. Unfortunately it did not happen."

Vingegaard was in the original plan for Montréal but is absent as a consequence of the injuries he sustained crashing out of the Tour de France on stage 15.

Mørkøv's explanation is structural rather than personal, and he groups Vingegaard with Mattias Skjelmose, who is also missing.

"Jonas is in a way a bit of a special case, a bit like Skjelmose. These are riders who sacrifice an incredible amount for the goals they have early in the season, and therefore it can be fragile to have to be ready later in the season for a championship," he said.

Both rode two Grand Tours this year. Skjelmose was sixth at the Tour and finished the Vuelta, where he was in the top ten overall through the final week.

Asked whether stage race riders find the Worlds harder to prepare for, Mørkøv was unequivocal. "Yes, I think it is," he said. "It is just with a knowledge of how much Mattias and Jonas spend the whole season on their big goals. Then the Worlds lies fragile at the very end of the season. The other riders have other periods where they can build towards classics or championships.

"It has some costs if you ride two Grand Tours. Jonas had expressed that he was motivated and interested in riding the Worlds, but when he rides the Giro and the Tour, you know that is a hard programme. The same applies to Mattias. Ideally, if you want to believe in good form at this time of year, you should probably only ride one Grand Tour."

The consequence is that Denmark arrives without a climber to lead them on a circuit with 3,803 metres of climbing. Mads Pedersen, world champion in 2019, takes the role instead, alongside Søren Kragh Andersen, Kasper Asgreen, Mikkel Frølich Honoré and Michael Valgren.

Mørkøv described that as a decent consolation, though the shape of the Mount Royal circuit asks a considerable amount of a rider built for Yorkshire.