"The only time I won a one-day race was the day after another" - Jonas Vingegaard looks to break out of stage-racer shell at Europeans

It must be said that Jonas Vingegaard is a rider that does not do one-day races, lacking the experience in them and not carrying much of palmarès in them. His specialty is in the opposite type of racing, but he has the legs to perform and take big wins and this Sunday he's looking to do that at the European Championships road race.

The course, featuring 3500 meters of climbing and suited to those with the best climbing legs, suits the Dane quite well. The ascent to Val d'Enfer is 1.5 kilometers long at 10% and will be raced several times, similarly to the Giro dell'Emilia.

Over the past few years, in stage-races and Grand Tours, Vingegaard has shown great explosivity and capacity on the short and steep climbs, often following Tadej Pogacar up these. Most recently at the Vuelta a España, he dropped his main rival João Almeida on the steep climbs into Bilbao, before the stage was neutralized.

In fact since the 2022 edition of Il Lombardia, Vingegaard has only done a one-day race on one occasion, which was the 2024 Clásica San Sebastián, which he did not complete. There is a learning curve necessary for the 28-year most likely, but physically he is able to battle for the win at the Europeans and Il Lombardia - if he decides to race it - against even the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel.

"I dream of performing well in one-day races. If I haven't participated in many one-day races in recent years, it's because I haven't really discovered how to perform in them yet," Vingegaard admitted in words to Wielerflits.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider had quite an amusing remark regarding his history in this kind of race: "The only time I won a one-day race was the day after another. So, you can't really call it a one-day race."

This Sunday will be an important test but an honest one, as Vingegaard will lead the Danish team in a race where he has serious chances of finishing within the medals, and will be competing against the World and Olympic Champions after they thrived in the Kigali World Championships.