"Even the best rider I've seen has bad days" – Jonas Vingegaard’s European Championship disappointment defended by Danish teammate

Jonas Vingegaard’s early exit from the 2025 European Championships sparked plenty of chatter, but one rider inside the Danish camp insists the reaction should come with perspective.

Speaking openly on the Domestique Hotseat Podcast, Rasmus Pedersen described a brutal race, a ruthless opening climb, and a day where even the sport’s biggest names were forced to reckon with their limits.

Pedersen didn’t hide from the reality of what happened to Jonas Vingegaard in France. The Danish leader was distanced surprisingly early, a moment that stunned viewers but made sense to the riders gasping up the opening climb. Reflecting on the moment, Pedersen told the podcast: “Every rider, even the best rider I've seen today, has bad days, has bad legs and has days where they're just not there.”

He stressed that Vingegaard had prepared properly and lined up expecting to be competitive. That made the outcome even more striking. As Pedersen recounted: “He did everything like he had caffeine gel just before the second lap… he was dropped 15k later so he believed in it for sure 100% and he did all the things he had to do to be at that level to follow Tadej and Remco.”

In other words, this wasn’t indifference or lack of effort — simply a rare off-day for one of the greatest stage racers of his generation.

For Pedersen, the European Championships were meant to be a milestone: his first real race sharing national colours with Vingegaard. He admitted on the podcast that the excitement was genuine: “I was just excited to be there, especially with those guys, some heavy hitters, Skjelmose and Jonas.”

Two weeks before the race, Danish coach Michael Morkov made the call. Pedersen remembers telling him exactly what he had promised months earlier: “I've always been the guy to call up and say, I'm always ready to wear the national colours and help if needed.”

His role was straightforward — keep the early break in check and help set up Denmark’s leaders. But the race script disintegrated almost immediately.

Pedersen’s description of the start gives context to why so many big names struggled. The race didn’t build; it detonated. “We started on the climb 4K to the top. The first eight minutes had 450 watts. I'm not a climber, so it was quite something,” he said.

That violent opening didn’t just create gaps — it created panic. The peloton split, regrouped, and split again until only a sliver of riders remained in contention. Even Pedersen, doing the job he had been assigned, felt the race slipping away long before the final climbs.

He ultimately missed the time cut, one of dozens caught out on a day that allowed only seventeen riders to finish. As he put it: “If you're outside 10 minutes, you're getting pulled out. But yeah, of course there's a natural pressure that comes with racing on that team with those guys.”

The combination of heat, pacing, and relentless climbing turned the European Championships into one of the most selective races of the season.

While Vingegaard’s difficult day became a headline, Pedersen’s reflections paint a fuller picture: a chaotic race, an unforgiving course, and a peloton pushed far beyond its comfort zone from kilometre zero.

He wasn’t making excuses for his teammate — he was offering reality. The message is simple: even the best can crack, and sometimes there’s no mystery behind it. Legs are legs. And on that day, even Vingegaard’s deserted him.

Pedersen’s honesty also underlines something else: racing with stars like Vingegaard isn’t just a privilege, it’s pressure. And he felt all of it.