{"id":412301,"date":"2026-01-14T12:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/412301\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T12:36:09","slug":"ive-also-been-close-to-burning-out-jonas-vingegaard-risks-all-for-a-chance-at-cycling-immortality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/412301\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I\u2019ve also been close to burning out’ \u2013 Jonas Vingegaard risks all for a chance at cycling immortality"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a New Year, a new dawn, a new Giro d\u2019Italia<\/a> and Tour de France<\/a> double bid \u2013 and Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> is feeling good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe changed the programme and it\u2019s something I\u2019m really motivated by,\u201d he says. \u201cPersonally, I really needed the change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cBy repeating what you do every year, you get into the same roll and do the same every year. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m not motivated, but it\u2019s more like sometimes you also need something new to increase your motivation again. I feel myself that I have a new energy I haven\u2019t had for a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Playing with his wedding ring at times as he spoke, Vingegaard repeated that buzz phrase \u201cnew energy\u201d three times in the first five minutes of his press conference at Visma-Lease a Bike<\/a>\u2019s media day on Tuesday in the hills north of Benidorm.<\/p>\n

The runner-up in the last two editions of the Tour de France does not feel that he is sacrificing his chances in the sport\u2019s blue riband race by chasing Giro glory first.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tour is the big goal as well. I think you can also have both of them pretty equal as goals,\u201d Vingegaard says. \u201cI also want to win the Giro and I still believe that it\u2019s possible for me to do both.\u201d Tadej Poga\u010dar <\/a>showed as much in 2024, winning both the Giro and the Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finishing second in the 2023 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a> after Tour victory first made him realise that the Giro-Tour double was possible and he says he wanted to do it from the moment he won the Vuelta last year.<\/p>\n

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The data, run by the team, backed up his feeling: \u201cThe two times I\u2019ve done the Vuelta after the Tour, I haven\u2019t been worse, I\u2019ve even been a bit better power-wise. We don\u2019t believe it\u2019s a disadvantage for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

UAE Team Emirates-XRG star Jo\u00e3o Almeida and former winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-bora-hansgrohe<\/a>) are anticipated rivals for the race which begins in Bulgaria. Vingegaard knows he is flirting with both cycling immortality and burnout.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo Grand Tours will be very demanding,\u201d he said, another reason for a \u201clight\u201d calendar which sees the 29-year-old only racing the UAE Tour and Volta a Catalunya alongside the first two grand tours.<\/p>\n

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Yates retirement is \u2018big loss\u2019 <\/p>\n

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\"Jonas\n<\/p>\n

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Burnout<\/a> was on Vingegaard\u2019s mind in light of last week\u2019s shock retirement announcement<\/a> from defending Giro d\u2019Italia champion Simon Yates<\/a> a week ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very big loss for us, it\u2019s very unfortunate we lose him now,\u201d Vingegaard says. \u201cHe was going to play a very important role in the Tour. But I also have a lot of respect for his decision. I think it doesn\u2019t come from nothing: he lost his motivation and the sport is very hard to be in, very demanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019ve also been close to burning out. It is tough with all the altitude camps and everything, I know his programme from last year so I understand that it was very hard for him. That he makes this decision, I have a lot of respect for him when he feels it\u2019s enough and he\u2019s going to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Cycling Weekly when he had come closest to burnout and who stopped him from that state, the reigning Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a champion said: \u201cWe push ourselves to the limit with all the altitude camps, with everything. You always need to be ready for a race and go there to win it. It\u2019s not like in the past, you come there to get in shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there\u2019s more pressure on all the riders. For me, it\u2019s just about listening to who I am as a person and what I need. And I\u2019ve said it many times, but it\u2019s something my wife really helps me with: to get me to feel what I need and how I feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vingegaard is aware that the World Championships road race in Montreal could be pushing the envelope, even though the hilly route suits and motivates him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope that if I\u2019m completely done after the Tour that people will actually accept it now, instead of saying that I had to go to the Worlds,\u201d he said, an apparent reference to the criticism he received in September 2025 for opting out of last year\u2019s event in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe times I\u2019ve said no to the Worlds are for a reason, not because I don\u2019t want to \u2026 I showed in the Europeans last year when enough is enough,\u201d alluding to his DNF there.<\/p>\n

On the cusp of history<\/p>\n

Vingegaard has never raced the Giro d\u2019Italia in his career. If he achieves the grand tour holy trinity, he would follow Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and his \u201cbig idol\u201d Alberto Contador into the sport\u2019s annals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really liked watching Contador, especially the way he raced: he was not afraid of attacking and cracking,\u201d he reflects.<\/p>\n

However, the Dane is not motivated by being the first in his generation to achieve the full house.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all know Tadej [Poga\u010dar] will do it sooner or later, I guess,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s more about being able to win all three of them. It would be a dream for me, an incredible achievement,\u201d he says. Only seven men in history have done it.<\/p>\n

It is all change for the Visma-Lease a Bike squad too, not just their figurehead. They have made nine winter signings ahead of the 2026 season, including French national time-trial champion Bruno Armirail, Briton Owain Doull and Italian youngster Davide Piganzoli. Dylan van Baarle, Cian Uijtdebroeks,Tiesj Benoot and Olav Kooij are among the departures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s been a lot of writing in the media that we haven\u2019t done well in the transfers, but I was also not the biggest talent [or] the first in line to get a WorldTour contract,\u201d Vingegaard says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the signings they made are pretty good. It\u2019s some of the [sport\u2019s] big talents. I think Davide will be a very good climber and the same with Louis [Barr\u00e9]. We will have some good climbing power.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a New Year, a new dawn, a new Giro d\u2019Italia and Tour de France double bid \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-412301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}