“It's a bit strange to be racing against your own team leader” - Long-time Pogacar lieutenant eyes helping Jonas Vingegaard beat Slovenian at 2027 Worlds
Cycling
Mikkel Bjerg has spent seven seasons helping Tadej Pogacar beat Jonas Vingegaard, but the Danish rider would relish the chance to reverse those roles at the 2027 World Championships. Should Vingegaard finally make his elite Worlds debut in Sallanches, one of Pogacar's longest-serving UAE Team Emirates - XRG teammates is eager to help him challenge the Slovenian for the rainbow jersey.
Bjerg had already considered the possibility of competing against Pogacar at this year's championships in Montreal, before the Slovenian's Vuelta a Espana crash brought his season to a premature end. "It's a strange one. I would have been racing against Tadej Pogacar, my team leader, if he hadn't crashed at the Vuelta," Bjerg explained on Eurosport's Radio Tour. "That would have been the first time. It's a bit strange to be racing against your own team leader."
The 28-year-old represented Denmark in Montreal, while Pogacar missed the defence of his world title after suffering a broken collarbone, concussion and fractures in his neck and upper back. Bjerg is keen to experience that unfamiliar confrontation, not least because it would give him a rare opportunity to test himself against the riders he usually supports.
"I'd also like to show how versatile a rider I am," he said. "So if I could have been up there towards the finale, racing against the guys who are actually my team leaders, that would have been great to show as well."
Before joining UAE in 2020, Bjerg won three consecutive under-23 world time trial titles. He has since claimed a stage victory at the 2023 Criterium du Dauphine and finished fourth at the 2024 Tour of Flanders, although opportunities to pursue individual results have been relatively limited alongside Pogacar. Much of his work now involves controlling races for the Slovenian, often long before the decisive attacks begin.
Vingegaard only has one senior appearance in Danish colours on his palmares
Could Vingegaard finally make his elite Worlds debut in 2027?
For all his Grand Tour success, Vingegaard has never started an elite World Championships road race. His only Worlds appearance came in the under-23 event in 2018, while his sole elite European Championships outing ended in a DNF in 2025.
The Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader had hoped to race in Montreal this year, but the fractured collarbone sustained during the Tour de France ultimately ended his season.
Sallanches has been a potential target for several years. Danish national coach Michael Morkov has previously confirmed discussions with Vingegaard about the 2027 championships, where the men's road race features 20 ascents of the Cote de Domancy and approximately 5,700 metres of climbing across 265 kilometres.
Bjerg would welcome the chance to be involved, even if the mountainous French course is hardly suited to his own strengths. "I'd absolutely love to help Jonas," he said. "It would have been great if he'd ridden both the European Championships and the World Championships this year as well."
And his enthusiasm for 2027 is clear. "It would be brilliant if he rode the World Championships next year, even though the course doesn't particularly suit me. I'd really love to do it. I'd really love to see him become world champion as well."
Having raced in Montreal himself, however, Bjerg was not convinced Vingegaard had missed the opportunity of a lifetime. "The World Championships in particular unfolded in a way that made me think: OK, he hasn't missed the opportunity of his life," he explained. "It was more like a Classics race than I'd expected. I'd have preferred to see him at the European Championships. That course suited him better."
The climbing in Sallanches should be far more favourable to Vingegaard, although the Dane has relatively little experience of racing for major one-day titles. His best WorldTour Classic result remains eighth at the 2021 Clasica de San Sebastian, a striking contrast with his achievements across three weeks.
Read also
Another Danish star willing to join Vingegaard
Tobias Lund Andresen is another rider who could make himself available for Denmark if Vingegaard decides to race. The 24-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough 2026 campaign with Decathlon CMA CGM Team, establishing himself among the peloton's most promising sprinters. With the repeated climbs around Sallanches offering little prospect of personal success, Lund Andresen might ordinarily have been inclined to skip the championships.
"I'd want to ride it too if Jonas was riding," he said on Radio Tour. "Normally, I probably wouldn't race for the national team if I didn't feel I could make a difference, but if Jonas is there, then..."
Lund Andresen's Decathlon teammate Paul Seixas could be one of the biggest obstacles standing in Vingegaard's way. The young Frenchman has emerged as a serious contender for cycling's biggest one-day prizes after winning La Fleche Wallonne and Il Lombardia in 2026, and the mountainous Sallanches circuit is expected to suit him considerably better than his Danish teammate.
It is also a course with a special place in French cycling history. Bernard Hinault won the world title there in 1980, and Seixas will be hoping to follow in his footsteps when the championships return to the town next August.
For Lund Andresen, that could mean helping Vingegaard chase down a teammate he has spent the season racing alongside. Bjerg, meanwhile, could find himself doing the same against Pogacar, with whom he has shared countless kilometres at UAE since 2020.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Ok, Walt 🤣... Vingegaard would be lucky to get on the poduim. He would not beat Seixas or Del Toro, let alone TP. Then there are the Americans...BD06-11-2026
- So, for starters. Cycling is a saturated, static/dying sport in traditional lands, it will not have resurgences like eg running occasionally does because of several obstacular (yes, I know that’s not a word but don’t make me point out the obvious at your expense) factors. Obviously, like almost everything involving money, there is a desire/need/advantage to growth and that can only come from (developing or just testing) new markets. For me, the WC is the obvious and best choice for several reasons, it comes at the end of the season so is less critical season risk wise, it is not a “pro” team race but nation based which makes integration of uncommon participation more natural. It is a vehicle for redistribution (one of a very limited number of available mechanisms to develop new markers fairly) that the fixed calendar doesn’t allow and it helps make budgets fairer over the long run (moving the whole circus to everywhere evens out everyone’s budget as opposed to having everyone always come to the same location.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- Sad that a more refreshing article like this, which could generate discussion in a number of directions, gets completely ignored for the importance of debating the level of superiority of one rider into every single last detail, including a majority of totally hypothetical ones. People complain there is no news in the off season and it’s boring but don’t realise how boring it is to review the same old discussion over and over again, several times a day. In fact, you’d almost think this was a rider fan website. Instead of complaining about the FREE (as long as you pay attention to data use if not unlimited coz this site consumes almost as much for loading Youtube) content, the presence of cv of authors (for the missed obvious reason that it makes it easier to insert extra advertising without changing formats), the lack of quality/checking and depth of articles, why not also think about the content, quality and variety of posts that everyone can contribute to? The platform becomes irrelevant when discussion is interesting.Jumpyjohn06-11-2026
- UAE Team Emirates and Pogačar will officially unveil their objectives at the team’s media day, which will take place on December 18 in Benidorm, Spain. New information from the UAE Team: Exceptional recovery remains the cornerstone of success for the Slovenian cannibal-Pogi, whose sporting manager, Matxin, believes he will be even better in 2027 than he has been over the past three seasons.PogiSloFans06-11-2026
- Yeh, but he didn't and RE beat Pog & Del T 👍
leedorney06-11-2026 - Just my opinionleedorney06-11-2026
- Great win.However will the world champions jersey be simply a domestic for the season which will some what tarnish the jersey. I hope he is given free rein to try and win some races.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Gretsky wow how old are you lol. Classy sportman though.🤣🤣🤣🤣 Hope it is a good as the one they made on Mark Cavendish.paultryan200206-11-2026
- Literally the perfect RedBull athlete.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
- And well understood in the CX community.anonymouscyclist06-11-2026
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