Johan Bruyneel on Jonas Vingegaard: "Having a child is not really a reason to finish your season"
CyclingSaturday, 19 October 2024 at 09:24
As Tadej Pogacar continues to dominate the cycling world in 2024, the question looms... who can stop the all-conquering Slovenian? Probably the first name that comes to mind is Jonas Vingegaard, the man who defeated Pogacar at successive Tours de France in 2022 and 2023.
On the latest episode of The Move podcast, the latest of Pogacar's brilliant moments in 2024, a fourth consecutive victory at Il Lombardia, is discussed, with the question even posed to former sports director, Johan Bruyneel: "If Jonas Vingegaard would have been at the race, would the outcome have been any different?"
"At Il Lombardia? Pfft no," Bruyneel answers dismissively. "At the maximum, Jonas would have been with Remco. I mean first of all, he's not a one day racer. He could be, especially in that kind of race, but it looks like he's not interested," the 60-year-old Belgian continues.
As noted on the podcast, one of the reasons Vingegaard isn't still competing at this time of the season is because the Danish leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike has recently welcomed a new addition to his family. "Yeah but, having a child is not really a reason to finish your season," Bruyneel counters. "I mean, after the Tour de France, he did win the Tour de Pologne. Didn't win a single stage, but he won the overall. But he cut his season short quite early."
Vingegaard and Pogacar went head to head for the 4th successive Tour de France this summer
"He didn't race much at all, during the whole year," continues Bruyneel. "I don't really know why he doesn't race more. Just to stay active, stay motivated and to have some goals. Obviously you know, he knows better than we do and his team knows what they're doing, so I'm not criticizing that. But, I find it a very long time to be without competition. Not just from the physical point of view but also, you kind of have to keep your points of reference to know where you are at with your rivals."
As mentioned Vingegaard has beaten Pogacar in the past, but even without the injuries endured in 2024, the Dane would have had little chance of stopping his rival according to Bruyneel. "The 2022 and 2023 Tour de France, we were all thinking: 'Okay Jonas is so strong, there's no way Pogacar can beat him', but back comes Pogacar and just blows everyone away, including Jonas," he concludes. "I'm tempted to say that even the Vingegaard of 2023 would not have beaten the Pogacar of the 2024 Tour de France."
claps 8visitors 8
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He'd won the Giro after all. That should put him as the strongest rider by itself. His rivals couldn't match him on the Finestre. Superior team tactics, but also superior legs by no means. He didn't even miss a doping test. Believe it or notBM06-06-2025
- Solid worker this guy 💪
leedorney06-06-2025 - One of the amazing things about cycling is how many races are happening at the same time. Stage, GC, and (as is clear here) job. It’s what makes the sport so interesting. On screen maybe not much is happening, but and yet so much is happening.RidesHills06-06-2025
- In contract year, i would say that if team duties permit, you are allowed to market yourself.abstractengineer06-06-2025
- Now its not a good team for talent development and opportunities. With Tadej hogging the GTs and the Monuments and the rest left fighting for scraps, there is very little chance for leadership roles which are critical in development of future greatsabstractengineer06-06-2025
- That is why talents shouldn't sign long term contracts of 5+ years. It leaves them vulnerable to team's decisionsabstractengineer06-06-2025
- OMG you've never been in a sprint if you get touched a little and stop sprinting ! Stay back on the peleton then if you can't take a lil' touch !frieders306-06-2025
- I guess that I'll need to find another sport to follow then.
santiagobenites05-06-2025 - Agreed, this sprint s is not woethy of a religation penalty! This should be re examied ou tof fairness.sam05-06-2025
- no brilliance from Yates or Visma?? you don't win Grand Tour without being strong rider. He stayed podium thru mtns without teammates Toro had full team of super climbers.Brilliant WVA and Yates, both monumental, inspiration comebacks, crushing the ride (all-time record time and he's not strong?). We all know Toro and Carapaz failed, but they didn't trust their legs; you might win by a few seconds if the others look at each other but not 5min.ccpivo05-06-2025
The world doesn't need another one dimensional TDF winner.
So grateful to Tadej and Remco for revitalizing the sport.
The world needs allsorts, so each can appreciate what they like.
Without Jonas to battle Tadej the last 5 years, the TdF would certainly not have been as interesting, we’d be stuck in another Froome era.
Remco is a welcome addition but very recent and it was only this year that a huge number of « fans » would probably have asked him to quit the sport if they had any say.
We've had an endless parade of one trick pony TDF winners since Bernard Hinault hung up his cleats.
So incredibly boring.
Take out Jonas and even Tadej will be less exciting to watch
He was a solid time trialist, but won Paris Roubaix, LBL (twice), Lombardi, road worlds. He would attack from far out on mountain stages.
Definitely a lot more than today's kind of TT specialist.
Agreed. Jonas is a good character. Great GT rider. But his lack of versatility compared to Pog and Remco makes me root for Pog and Remco when they all face off.
Ah, that’s better :-)
I’m more of an underdog person myself but that means being incredibly patient in cycling.
He beat plenty of mountain goats in winning 5 TdF's !
Huh? He was as all-round as Tadej, won just about everything (except gravel :-)) including 2 GTs per year 3times.