“It’s like playing football on the same pitch as Kylian Mbappe” – French pro says cycling’s accessibility cuts both ways after Jonas Vingegaard’s fan-related training crash

Jonas Vingegaard’s fan-related training crash in Spain has continued to frame a wider discussion inside the peloton, not only around boundaries and safety but around something more fundamental to cycling itself: accessibility.

After earlier reactions focused on frustration and respect amid increasingly crowded training roads, Cofidis rider Benjamin Thomas has offered a more reflective perspective, arguing that the very openness that causes tension is also central to the sport’s identity.

Thomas was speaking to RMC Sport just days after Vingegaard crashed while trying to distance an amateur rider during a training descent in southern Spain. While Team Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed that the Dane escaped without serious injury and publicly urged cyclists to give professionals space while training, Thomas avoided framing the incident as a simple case of fans overstepping the line.

Instead, he acknowledged that congestion on Spain’s winter training roads has reached a point where professional preparation regularly has to be adapted. “I was in Calpe for almost three weeks,” Thomas said in conversation with RMC Sport. “There are days when you can’t really train properly, and you’re forced to adapt.”

That reality, he explained, becomes most obvious on the most popular routes. “There were days when we went to the Coll de Rates, and we had series to do, and it was impossible,” Thomas said. “You spend your time overtaking people. When you’re overtaking two or three abreast, you’re in the middle of an effort, there are cars coming down, other cyclists descending in the opposite direction, you just say to yourself, ‘no, it’s fine, we’ll do that on the next climb.’”

Thomas did not deny that the situation can be irritating for professionals trying to follow a training plan, but he repeatedly returned to the need for restraint on both sides. “Sometimes it’s a bit annoying,” he said, “but you just have to be patient and act responsibly.”

Crucially, he resisted the view that amateurs riding alongside professionals was a problem in itself. “It’s not a scourge,” Thomas said, while conceding that “there are situations where it’s really excessive.” What happened to Vingegaard, he added, was “unfortunate,” but not something that should automatically trigger calls to shut fans out of training environments altogether.

That tone stands in contrast to some of the sharper reactions to Vingegaard’s crash, including concerns that amateur riders following professionals can create dangerous situations at speed. Thomas instead framed the issue as one of scale and density, rather than intent.

Where Thomas differed most clearly from earlier voices was in his defence of cycling’s openness. He argued that being able to encounter the sport’s biggest names in ordinary training settings remains one of its defining features.

“It’s also the magic of cycling,” Thomas said. “You can train with or be overtaken by Van der Poel, Remco, Pogacar in training. Can you imagine? It’s like playing football and being on the same pitch as Mbappé,” he added with a laugh.

That accessibility, Thomas suggested, explains why many amateurs travel to Spain not solely to train but to experience proximity to the professional peloton. “It’s normal to understand people who are really happy and take the opportunity,” he said, describing riders who head to training hubs specifically “to see the pros and be around them,” sometimes more than to train themselves.

Thomas did, however, acknowledge that the current trajectory may have consequences if congestion continues to increase. “If this continues in the long term, there will be teams who stop doing training camps there and find other locations,” he said, before adding that the region remains uniquely suited to cycling.

Placed alongside earlier comments from riders such as Paul Penhoet, who stressed that professionals are “working” and need that to be respected, Thomas’ remarks broaden the discussion rather than contradict it. Together, they outline the tension at the heart of the Vingegaard incident: a sport whose popularity and accessibility are growing faster than the infrastructure and etiquette needed to manage them.

In that sense, Vingegaard’s crash has become less about blame and more about balance. As Thomas’ comments underline, cycling’s openness is both its charm and its challenge, one that the peloton is now being forced to confront more openly than ever.