Details on Jonas Vingegaard's crash hint at fellow rider involvement - Fellow pro defends Dane's right for privacy

Jonas Vingegaard has not started 2026 with the ideal month, as in the last days of January he has suffered a training crash that has left him with a bloodied face. More details about the fall are shared and it can be understood that there is a possibility that the Dane fell due to an amateur rider that was riding in his wheel.

The fall happened this Monday, and was confirmed by a message shared by Visma this morning. Vingegaard did not sustain meaningful injuries, however he went down during a solo training ride near Málaga, Spain.

The statement urged other amateur riders in the area, of which there are many at this time of year, to give the professionals space and allow them to train safely. This heavily hints that what had been discovered on Strava may be true: Jonas Vingegaard might have crashed due to a rider that was following him.

A Spanish rider called Pedro García Fernández shared a picture behind Vingegaard, and also wrote on his Strava activity the following: "You can be professional, but you can also be humble. He was going down fast just to get rid of me and ended up on the ground. I don't make a living from this and I'm an amateur like most people, so I don't think his anger as a professional is justified because of that."

This was met with a lot of backlash on social media as the amateur rider was seemingly uncaring for the incident he has seemingly stirred. A second report from another rider adds more detail to the story:

"He must have taken a hard hit to end up dragging his face along the ground," the second rider said. "I also stopped and asked if he needed help and he told me no, to go away, very angry. Now I understand why.

Former Uno-X Mobility rider Magnus Kulset took to social media to argue this can be the case. "After reading about Vingegaard crashing on training yesterday and the total amount of random riders jumping onto pro’s wheels, I have a question: How would you feel about a random person breathing down your neck at work? Without asking if you are fine with it," he questioned.

"I’ll happily let people ride on my wheel if they ask, but if they don’t I feel uncomfortable, and to some degree unsafe. I don’t know how good of a bike handler you are, I don’t know how aware you are, I don’t know how safe in traffic you are. I have personally been crashed into by someone jumping onto my wheel, and that is so unnecessary and unfortunate for everyone".

Whilst Vingegaard is not currently training in the Costa Blanca, he did during the two team training camps, as did Tadej Pogacar and most of the other world's best. The region is swarmed with pro and amateur cyclists alike during the winter months and the constant flow of footage circling on social media suggests the riders are constantly the center of attention, even with no racing on the schedule.

With the potential for the Dane's crash having been caused by an amateur rider on the road; as well as Tadej Pogacar's efforts to avoid attention and pictures during last summer; it makes a strong case for the top riders seeking less active locations for which to train.