Will we finally see Jonas Vingegaard race an elite Worlds? Denmark coach reveals 2027 Rainbow Jersey has been targeted for years
Cycling
Jonas Vingegaard has never started an elite men’s World Championship road race. Yet Denmark national coach Michael Morkov says the 2027 edition in Sallanches has been on the Dane’s radar for years.
For a rider whose senior career has been dominated by Grand Tours, it would represent unfamiliar territory. Vingegaard’s only previous Worlds appearance came as an under-23 rider in 2018, while his return to Danish colours at the 2025 European Championships ended with a DNF.
“We have spoken about it, and I mentioned it to him several years ago when we knew it was going to be held there,” Morkov told Eurosport.
Twenty ascents of the Côte de Domancy
The elite men’s road race in Sallanches takes place on 29 August and is set to be one of the most climbing-heavy World Championships in recent memory.
Across 265 kilometres, the riders will accumulate around 5,700 metres of elevation gain. The centrepiece is the Côte de Domancy, a 2.5-kilometre climb averaging 9.4 per cent which features on each of the 20 laps. “It is going to be a historically hard championship, with 20 ascents of this 2.5-kilometre climb,” said Morkov.
Domancy already has a place in World Championship history. Bernard Hinault won the rainbow jersey in Sallanches in 1980 after breaking the race apart on the same climb.
Vingegaard’s victories at the Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana and Giro d’Italia have all been built around his ability on long, attritional climbing days. In Sallanches, that climbing will come repeatedly across 265 kilometres rather than being concentrated into one decisive mountain block.
Jonas Vingegaard raced the 2025 European Championships for Denmark
Montreal was supposed to provide the experience
Morkov had hoped Vingegaard would arrive in Sallanches with a senior World Championships already behind him.
That was part of the plan in Montreal in 2026. “After the crash at the Tour de France, we were working towards the World Championships in Montreal,” Morkov explained. “Unfortunately, he had to withdraw because of the crash at the Tour.”
Vingegaard fractured his collarbone on stage 15 and initially kept the Worlds open as a possible comeback before Team Visma | Lease a Bike eventually ended his season. “I had also hoped he would be at the World Championships this year to get the experience and feel of a Worlds ahead of next year,” Morkov added.
Instead, Montreal became another championship missed. Denmark still produced a competitive performance, with Mads Pedersen finishing sixth in the elite men’s road race, but left without a medal.
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Denmark hope to arrive with two climbing leaders
Mattias Skjelmose also missed Montreal, and Morkov hopes both riders will be available for the much more mountainous championship in France. “As national coach, I hope that next year we can start with at least Mattias and Jonas as our leading riders,” he said.
Vingegaard’s 2027 programme has not yet been announced. After a 2026 season built around the Giro-Tour double, Visma and Vingegaard still have to decide where Sallanches fits alongside his Grand Tour ambitions.
The date is already fixed: the elite men’s road race takes place on 29 August, considerably earlier in the calendar than Montreal did in 2026.
By then, Vingegaard will be 30 and still waiting for his first elite World Championships start. If he does make it to Sallanches, it will be for a race Morkov says was being discussed years before the route became an immediate target.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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