Updated January 28, 2026 09:00AM
Anyone who’s been on the roads of Spain in the middle of January training camps knows where to hang out to follow the pros like Tadej Pogačar or Demi Vollering.
There are a few go-to cafés in Calpe where every coffee ride ends. Post up on the Coll de Rates and you’ll quite literally bump into a Tour de France winner or a world champion (or both).
Unlike sports contested inside a stadium or on a closed-off court, pro racing lives on public roads.
From Spain’s Costa Blanca to Girona and Andorra to Nice, the world’s best cyclists train shoulder-to-shoulder alongside mere mortals and weekend warriors.
That’s the magic of road racing. And that’s also the curse.
The crash involving Jonas Vingegaard near Málaga this week didn’t come out of nowhere.
There’s been a long-simmering toxic mix of pros on the open roads, trailed by sometimes overzealous fans on the hunt for viral footage.
It’s a real-time social media craze that could only play out in cycling’s unique reality.
That quest is being aided and abetted by Strava heat maps, GoPro cameras, Instagram reels, and a junky-like need for social media hits.
When the two-time Tour de France winner, evidently training alone, went down on a high-speed corner on Tuesday, it lifted the lid on a booming subculture of fans following the pros and posting videos on social media.
Riding along with pros is the ultimate bike-geek status symbol.
The incident raised some tricky questions. Are fans pushing too far? And how should anyone behave when they hitch the wheel with the world’s best cyclists? Let’s dive in:
Wheel-sucking and selfies
Some teams bring team cars along on training rides, others don’t when a rider is putting in long base days. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
So what really happened?
An amateur rider later shared a video and revealed on social media (where else?) he’d been pacing behind Vingegaard on a well-known route near Málaga, saying that the Dane accelerated on the descent to create some space.
Vingegaard evidently slipped out on a sweeping, wide-open road with a few chicanes, but nothing so challenging that a top pro can’t handle.
Exactly how Vingegaard crashed remains unclear.
#Décryptage 🔎 / Sur la Costa Blanca, le Coll de Rates est devenu un spot prisé des pros et des amateurs. Montée accessible et terrain de jeu idéal pour chasser les KOM sur Strava, au point d’en devenir parfois saturé. https://t.co/HBxX0sdHHz
— Renaud Breban (@RenaudB31) January 23, 2026
When the rider saw Vingegaard on the ground, he wrote that he stopped to help and later posted a message on social media criticizing the Dane for being rude. Another passing rider also tried to help.
In that circumstance, who wouldn’t be a bit peeved?
The social media backlash kicked off a firestorm in comments sections about who was right, who was wrong, and the bigger question of how to treat the pro cyclists when they’re out on the road.
For Visma-Lease a Bike, the answer was clear: Give the pros some room.
Rise of cycling’s ‘follow-the-pros’ social media trend
Dozens of super fans are posting videos while following pros on training rides. (Photo: IG/screenshot)
Curious fans have always followed the pros. That’s nothing new.
From back in the day when top international riders started to settle in Girona, everyone knew that if you hung out at a certain bridge at 10 a.m., you’d be guaranteed to see some of the world’s best pro cyclists.
What’s new is how that super-fan passion is being monetized and turned into an influencer gig.
The rise of Instagram and YouTube has upped the stakes for what that proximity to the stars means.
What was once a few grainy, one-off video clips here and there is now a full-blown pursuit.
Better cameras and familiarity with training routes thanks to mapping devices allow these two-wheeled paparazzi to track the pros with uncanny efficiency.
There are now dozens of high-profile amateur accounts that create a quasi-career out of this. No one’s breaking any laws and public roads are open to everyone.
What’s different now is that there are more and more people riding around looking for pros to capture that super clip that will go viral.
Giving the pros space
Coll de Rates is one of the iconic climbs along Spain’s Costa Blanca. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
There’s etiquette and an unwritten code that’s long outlined what pacing with the pros should look like.
Most pros I’ve spoken to over the years are remarkably tolerant. It’s fine to join the group. Sit in at the back, don’t get in the way, and don’t do anything stupid.
Easy, right?
And that’s where things are getting out of control in this latest social media craze. Either the newbies don’t know cycling’s unwritten rules, or they ignore them.
It’s hard to say who’s to blame.
Some characters behind the more high-profile social media accounts have become close friends with the pros. They’re even invited by teams to join along on rides. After all, social media is good for everyone.
They know the rules, and the pros respect them in part because they stay out of the way and because they have the riding chops to stay close (at least for a while).
And many of these social media mavens are quick to police any other punter getting out of control.
It’s often the copy-cats who create the worst problems.
7 rules for riding with the pros
EF is among dozens of elite pro teams that hit Spain for pre-season camps. (Photo: Gruber Images)
The rules are simple. Here they are:
1. Stay behind the pros: Easy enough. This isn’t a group ride. The road is someone’s workplace. You don’t have the skills or motor to be anywhere else except at the back.
2. Don’t take pulls: Don’t be a hero and surge to the front and think the pros are looking for you to pitch in. They’re not.
3. Don’t try to drop them:
Don’t be an idiot and try to stay even with the pros or, even worse, try to go to the front. You won’t be able to, and you’ll only provoke a crash.
4. Put the phone away: Riding one-handed, leaning in for selfies, and drifting across lanes for a better angle — these are all red-flag no-nos.
5. Don’t be a dork: Pros are used to fans asking for photos, autographs, and most always will have a few words for anyone making the effort to reach out. But also respect the limits. If Evenepoel is chatting away with Van der Poel, don’t barge into the conversation and start talking tactics for the upcoming spring classics.
6. Give them space on descents: This should be obvious. Apparently, it isn’t.
7. Be nice: Not all pros want to chat with people they don’t know. They’re human, after all. Say hello, say thanks, and be respectful of their space.
Do this next time you’re down in Calpe, and you’ll be fine.
And you might even get that viral reel anyway.