"I hate that he is not here" - Danish teammate laments Jonas Vingegaard's absence from World Championships
CyclingFriday, 27 September 2024 at 10:07
Mattias Skjelmose has recently crashed at the Tour de Luxembourg and has had his World Championships at risk. Ultimately however the Lidl-Trek will be taking part in the Zurich race this Sunday where he will be one of the leaders of the Danish team - but he rues the absence of Jonas Vingegaard who could have a lot to add on such a tough course.
"I would have loved to ride on one World Championship team with Jonas, but I hate that he is not here. But I understand his choice, and it is what it is. Let's hope we can race together soon," Skjelmose told In de Leiderstrui. Alongside Mads Pedersen and Magnus Cort Nielsen there will be cards for the Danes to play, although it definitely isn't assured that Skjelmose himself will arrive in the best form.
"I think I came out of the Vuelta well. I've had some time off the bike and enjoyed some relaxed time with family and my girlfriend. I feel good now, although my performance in the Vuelta has yet to be processed," he admits. "That will probably only happen after this season; my focus is still too much on the World Championship. The most important thing is the best possible preparation for Zurich, to find top form". With Vingegaard, they would have had another card to play with Vingegaard who would likely be able to cover big attacks on the climbs; the team will have to opt for other tactics.
"I think it's cool to race with Van der Poel in Luxembourg, but we have to be careful not to make idols of our colleagues in the peloton," Skjelmose when asked about Mathieu van der Poel who will be one of the most dangerous riders in the peloton.
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Okay, first of all, Jonas lives in Denmark. He doesn’t have to pay for his kids to go to college, so the talk about his wages and taking care of his family is not relevant. Please don’t compare US to Denmark. You don’t need to have wealthy parents to get an education here.
Second, not going to the WC isn’t equal to not working! You can’t compare a regular job to a pro bike rider. His job is also to recover well, and I’m 100% positive that he is doing a lot of training at home.
his job is to race bikes and win those races.
and irrefutably he is letting his team down, hence the title of the article.
and as a fan, I'm let down by him not being there.
so, I stand by what I say. as for comparing the USA to Denmark, he may not need the money for college, but he is paid to win bike races. Mathieu van der Poel, Nov 27, 2018, and I quote "My sponsors pay me to win". Jonas is the leader, he is paid to win. he is not paid to train. he is not paid to sit home. yes, he has won massive races, and that is what he is paid for. go race some more, like the WC. IF he is healthy, but as I've said repeatedly, if he is home only for recovery, I get that.
Some fan you are!
How about not distorting known facts, If you’re going to quote MVDP from 2018?
Firstly, he was not even road racing then secondly he has his own sponsor as well as do some others which are not the same as team sponsors! Sponsors are free to sue if they feel there is breach of contract and so are employers if employees don’t show up for work.
Something tells me you know very little of the actual situation but are conjecturing a lot for no useful reason which reveals an emotional trauma, it maybe jealousy, a bet lost or a need for others to entertain you (is a race without Jonas really so boring?) but you also forget that there is change at Visma regarding sponsors at the moment and we are basically at the end of season.
Training (among many things) is a part of winning so part of the job and taking your definition it would seem logical that most riders shouldn’t get paid at all anymore or take VERY deep paycuts, and who is going to put a fair price on each win?
Spectators don’t pay to watch cycling’ fans don’t get the same moaning rights as when they pay hundreds, sometimes thousands to go watch other sports, THAT is being ripped off by your heros!
Enjoy your retirement, you’ve deserved it, don’t be bitter about other’s, it’ll ruin yours.
For all you know, he may be on sabbatical or have agreed to a pay cut, there seems to be no complaining coming from team or sponsors and as you should well know as a cycling fan, rider schedules are not made unilaterally, there will have been discussion about this, and obviously agreement.