Vingegaard admits to off day after early European exit

The two-time Tour de France winner was dropped with 109 kilometres to go on the Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps and climbed off shortly after. A brief shake of the head said more than words could, but when he spoke to reporters afterwards, there was no denial and no excuses.

“I had hoped for more, but sometimes you just don’t have the day, and today I didn’t,” Vingegaard told Feltet.dk and other media. “Maybe it’s because of the heavy schedule, maybe the form isn’t there. I don’t really know. But it definitely wasn’t my day.”

It was Vingegaard’s first race for the national team since turning professional, and on paper he was among the favourites, lined up alongside world champion Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel. Yet even before the attacks came, he sensed it slipping away.

“I already suffered on the first climb,” he admitted. “I thought it might get better, but when the tempo increased, it was too much.”

For a rider used to the steady rhythms of a Grand Tour, the demands of a one-day race are still something to adjust to. This was only his third such race since winning his first Tour in 2022, and it showed.

Still, there was no bitterness in his words, only perspective.

“It’s not that I’m losing faith,” he said. “It depends on how you prepare. I didn’t have the best preparation for this one. It was more to see how I would react and to represent Denmark. If I prepare properly, I can be up there in these races too,” he said, already looking toward the next chance.

Pogacar, the man he measures himself against, attacked alone with over 75 kilometres remaining and rode to the European title. Vingegaard, meanwhile, left France with no result, but with something he rarely finds in victory: uncertainty, and the hunger that comes with it.