"It's not always easy" - Jonas Vingegaard responds to Mads Pedersen's criticism of post-Tour de France criteriums

Mads Pedersen recently criticized the post-Tour de France criteriums, pointing out the fixed-results aspect and saying they are awful to watch. This has been brought up to Jonas Vingegaard, who was the winner of the recent Tour de France Saitama Criterium, who has responded to the harsh words of his compatriot.

This is a criticism that Pedersen said in a recent podcast: "It's a done deal. It's so awful to watch, because none of the riders are even trying to make it look like they're doing a bike race. It's more important that they're wearing some kind of bike helmet with a top hat on and a flap on top in a sumo wrestler's suit. That's what they're paid to do,"

In response to that, the former Tour de France winner has responded: "Obviously, it is probably not the toughest bike race over there. But there is still a lot of riding, and it's not always easy," Vingegaard said in words to Ekstra Bladet. "Right in Japan, it was raining and it was a bit slippery, so I ended up crashing. So maybe it wasn't the smartest thing". 

Vingegaard took the opportunity to travel to Asia with his family and seize some of his off-season time in a different environment. After racing the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, the Dane still marked his presence at the European Championships but lacked the form to be competitive. It is expected that he will not focus exclusively on training until February, or potentially March. In 2026, he is very likely to make his Giro d'Italia debut.

However despite the ups and the (literal) downs, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider does not regret having made the trip to the Saitama Criterium. "But I think it was a good experience. Both the bike race and the whole trip to Japan," he concluded.