Vingegaard omitted from Denmark's Olympic team

Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard has been left out of Denmark’s Olympic road race and time trial team despite publicly declaring his interest in participating.

Vingegaard, 27, won both the 2022 and 2023 editions of the world’s greatest cycling race, but he will not be adding Olympic gold to his haul this summer after concerns over an injury suffered in April and relative inexperience in one-day racing.

American team-mate Matteo Jorgenson hinted that Vingegaard is not certain to be ready for the Tour.

He said: “If Jonas is there, we’ll be 100% for the GC, and I’d be really happy to support that. If he’s not, we will have to look at the different scenarios, and see how it would shake out.”

Additionally, Vingegaard has not ridden any one-day races this year or last.

In conjunction, the concerns resulted in Mikkel Bjerg of UAE Team Emirates being selected instead. Bjerg will also ride in the individual time trial.

The selection of Bjerg over Vingegaard also provides additional support to medal hopeful Mads Pedersen, rather than a direct competitor.

Speaking after the announcement, Bjerg was delighted and fully aware of his role.

He said: “I am incredibly proud to be going to the Olympics. I have gone all in on coming along. Since December I have only been at home 14 days, and otherwise I have just run races and been to training camps. I chose to ride the Giro d’Italia and skip the Tour de France in order to be completely ready for the Olympics. That’s why I’m also really relieved to be selected. I look forward to helping Mads. I am an assistant rider on a daily basis and specialise in just that.”

He continued: “I know I can make a difference to the team. We have a strong Danish team, and we must show that we are ready to fight for the medals in Paris. And then I look forward to the single start. I have worked with single starts for 10 years, and I know what it takes to peak in that discipline.”

Despite the disappointment of missing the Olympics, Vingegaard has already won O Gran Camino in Galicia, and Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy, and will be looking to make history with a third consecutive Tour de France.

Rival UAE Team Emirates team manager Joxean Matxin says Vingegaard remains the favourite to win Le Tour this summer, brushing off talk of his injury.

He said: “Vingegaard has been training at altitude for weeks, he is the big favourite.”