Visma plan fresh talks with Jonas Vingegaard after career warning

Jonas Vingegaard’s admission that he considered walking away from professional cycling did not come as a shock to Visma | Lease a Bike.

The Danish rider revealed this weekend that he had approached the team’s management last year after finding it increasingly difficult to combine the demands of competing for Grand Tour victories with his family life and personal wellbeing.

Vingegaard felt that the constant focus on training, body weight and extended periods away from his family was becoming unsustainable. He warned Visma that changes were needed if he was to continue his career.

Sports director Marc Reef has now confirmed that Vingegaard’s concerns had already formed part of a wider series of conversations within the team.

“We are always speaking with him, and that was also the case at the end of last year,” Reef told In de Leiderstrui before stage 10 of the Tour.

Rather than viewing Vingegaard’s warning as an isolated intervention, Visma used those discussions to reconsider how his season should be structured.

The first major result was a significantly different race programme for 2026. Instead of placing almost all the emphasis on another Tour de France challenge, Vingegaard and the team selected the Giro d’Italia and the Tour as his two principal objectives.

“That is how the programme we have now came together,” Reef said. “The Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France were the two main goals. The UAE Tour was originally part of it as well.”

Vingegaard was unable to start the UAE Tour because of illness. His plans were adjusted and he instead returned to racing at the Volta a Catalunya.

He later travelled to Italy and won the Giro, becoming only the eighth male rider in cycling history to claim overall victory in all three Grand Tours. The Dane had already won the Tour de France twice (2022 and 2023) and added the Vuelta a España to his record in 2025.

For Visma, however, the success of the new approach cannot be measured only by results. Reef believes the difference has also been visible in Vingegaard’s mood and behaviour throughout the season.

“I think everyone has been able to see since the winter that he is happy,” Reef said. “That has been the case every time he has raced.”

“Jonas is very open, he feels comfortable within the team and everything has gone very well so far.”

The changes gave Vingegaard more influence over his schedule and reduced the amount of time he was required to spend away from home. It was an attempt to create a programme that suited the rider rather than simply following the traditional preparation expected of a Tour contender.

Vingegaard has said the new arrangement has helped him rediscover his enjoyment of cycling, although he does not consider the issue resolved.

“We have taken a step in the right direction, but it is clear that it is only one step,” he said.

Visma share the view that further work may be required. Reef confirmed that the team will sit down with Vingegaard again after the season to discuss his plans for 2027.

“We are always talking to each other, so next winter we will look at his programme again,” Reef said.

For now, the focus remains on the Tour de France, where Vingegaard currently sits second in the Tour, behind a seemingly untouchable Tadej Pogačar. On stage 10 to Le Lioran, Vingegaard finished seventh and conceded valuable time to his podium rivals in the final few hundred metres, having done most of the work in the chase behind Pogačar.