"He didn’t take it seriously enough" – Jonas Vingegaard slammed by former Tour de France winner after European Championship dreams fade with 100km to go

It was the kind of moment that demanded explanation. Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark’s Tour de France-winning talisman and one of the favourites heading into the European Championships road race, was unceremoniously dropped with around 110 kilometres still to ride. On the race’s very first major climb, as the peloton fractured under early pressure, and soon completely out of contention.

While Tadej Pogacar powered on to another breath taking solo win, the Danish cycling media was left trying to process the early implosion of their biggest star. And not everyone was offering sympathy.

Former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis delivered the most stinging criticism in the aftermath, telling Feltet that Vingegaard simply hadn’t done the work required to be competitive.

“He hasn’t trained. He hasn’t done what he needed to do to be ready for the Euros. That’s my best guess,” Riis said bluntly. “There were 80 riders left in the peloton when he was dropped – and that was at the first real effort uphill. If that happens, it’s because he hasn’t trained.”

Riis, who has long called for Vingegaard to take one-day racing more seriously, said the result was sadly predictable. “He hasn’t spent enough time on the bike since the Vuelta. Maybe he has another explanation, but this is what I believe. He hasn’t taken it seriously enough, and he hasn’t done the specific preparation needed to race for medals,” said the 1996 Maillot Jaune. “He’s strong enough to do it – no question – but you have to put in the work. This isn’t a stage race. It’s a totally different kind of challenge.”

While the tone may have been harsh, Vingegaard himself didn’t dismiss the criticism. In fact, he acknowledged that he struggled to recover in the aftermath of his Vuelta a Espana victory, where he fought through illness to secure the overall title.

“I’ll admit it – I needed more time off the bike than I’d hoped,” he told Feltet. “It took almost two weeks before I could train properly again. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to – it was that I couldn’t.”

The layoff proved costly. Unlike rivals such as Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, who arrived in France with full race conditioning and momentum, Vingegaard’s build-up was far from ideal – and it showed. “I don’t know if it was those two weeks off that made the difference today, or if it’s just a kind of deep fatigue still in my body,” he said. “But whatever it was, I didn’t have the legs.”

Sunday’s DNF continues a frustrating pattern: Vingegaard has not completed a one-day race since 2022. Since his last appearance at Il Lombardia three years ago, he has started just one – the 2024 Clásica San Sebastián – and failed to finish both.

Riis, for one, doesn’t believe this is a question of ability. “He’s more than strong enough,” he insisted. “But you can’t just show up and expect results. You have to approach these races like the monuments they are. You have to commit.”

Vingegaard, however, remains hopeful that his time in one-day racing will come. “I still believe I can compete in races like these,” he said. “But I’ll need to prepare better. This was about riding in the national colours and testing myself — but obviously, I wasn’t where I needed to be.”

Whether Sunday’s collapse marks a turning point in how Vingegaard approaches one-day racing remains to be seen. But among his compatriots, the message is clear: talent alone is not enough.