"We have to protect ourselves" - Jonas Vingegaard recalls February crash; concerns with fans following him during training

Jonas Vingegaard is starting his season this weekend at Paris-Nice, but that wasn't always the plan. The Dane is doing so because his preparation in the winter was hampered by a crash, partly caused by an amateur cyclist following him in the Málaga region of Spain. Vingegaard talks through the incident, the safety concerns and the possible need for protection out on the road.

The stresses and demands of being a top rider are already immense, but over the past few years, the surge in amateur riders following the top riders and recording videos for social media has grown immensely. In early February, such an instance ended badly for Vingegaard, who was being followed by a rider and ended up crashing as a result of trying to distance him so as to have his own space out on the road.

“I think the guy who posted it actually explained it quite well. That was exactly what happened. He followed me, and then I just went too fast into a corner," Vingegaard said in conversation with TV2. "That was something I shouldn’t have done. So I crashed, but it wasn’t actually that bad.” However that, combined with an illness, saw him drop his initial plan of racing the UAE Tour, where Isaac del Toro and Remco Evenepoel were present.

However Vingegaard is not happy with the frequency in which he is followed on the road: “For me it feels a bit crossing the line that people follow me like that. Maybe he knows who I am, but we don’t know each other. The fact that he sits on my wheel feels a bit uncomfortable. I don’t mind at all if people ride up and ask for a picture. That’s completely fine. But following me is something different.”

“Even if I think I shouldn’t have to, I still need to take that person behind me into account," he explains. "If I brake suddenly, he might crash into me. If I need to blow my nose, I can’t just do it because I might hit him. I constantly have to think about someone else being there.”

Whilst this wouldn't ordinarily be an issue to most riders, when the level of fame reaches such a level, it can be a constant stream of disruptions towards training, as well as the rider's mental wellbeing. Tadej Pogacar famously rode close to home with a jersey asking to to not be disturbed; whilst recently he was also verbally assaulted by a fan who was initially asking for a picture in Monaco.

In Spain recently, Pogacar was training with a motorbike following him so as to provide that extra protection and assure boundaries are respected. Vingegaard considers the same when training in cyclist-heavy regions: “When the crash had just happened I also thought that if it continues like this and gets worse, then that’s where it ends. Either riders will have a motorcycle with them or some kind of personal bodyguard so people can’t get close.”

“There is a reason I go out to ride alone. It’s because I want to ride alone. It’s not so much [of a problem] when I ride in Denmark because there aren’t that many cyclists around Glyngore. But when you are abroad there are often many people sitting on your wheel. We have to protect ourselves. But if it comes to that, then cycling becomes something very different.”