Rasmussen, Riis and others slam Vingegaard's "embarrassing" European Championship performance: "Those thick thighs stretched the lycra shorts"

Rasmussen, in particular, was harsh on his compatriot in his post-race analysis on TV Udbruddet. “I don't understand how he can bring himself to say it was a bad day. He knew perfectly well that he wouldn't put up much of a fight in the European Championships. He himself says he hasn't trained for two weeks.”

Rasmussen can't stand the fact that Vingegaard didn't take the task seriously. “It's downright embarrassing,” he continues to rant. "He's clearly too heavy compared to how he normally looks. It's not fitting for him to wear a national team jersey in that physical condition. He has really thick thighs. Those PostNord ads are stretched out on those Lycra pants, really."

“Compared to how Jonas normally looks, it's not right to start in that shape. He should have said he was staying home and leaving the spot to someone who cares about this. He didn't take the task seriously. That's obvious. It's not appropriate, because there are a lot of riders who really want to ride in this European Championship.”

Bjarne Riis may not be so direct, but the 1996 Tour winner is also unhappy with Vingegaard's approach. "He hasn't trained," he notes at Feltet. “He didn't train as much as he should have to be ready for the European Championships. There are still 80 men left, and he was dropped at the first acceleration. That's because he didn't train.”

Many doubted Vingegaard's chances, but not Riis. He thought he had a good opportunity. “This is something completely different. He didn't prepare at home. He didn't train. I don't think he took it seriously and didn't train as much as he should have to compete for medals. He's strong enough to do it, but he has to be prepared.”

Mielke, an analyst at Eurosport, was hugely disappointed after the disappointment in the Ardèche. “I was in shock when Jonas was dropped 109 km from the finish line yesterday,” he told Sporza. The Dane also saw that Vingegaard was not in top form at the start. 'With all due respect, we wondered whether he had trained at all since the Vuelta.

The course seemed to suit him perfectly, especially given the new explosiveness that the Visma | Lease a Bike rider had gained. “Jonas showed this year that he is more punchy than ever. And there were only positive signals from the Danish selection: they said that Jonas was flying during the recon and they were aiming for a medal with him and Skjelmose.”

But while Skjelmose rode to 6th place, Vingegaard was out of the race very early on. Mielke finds it strange that the Danish team was so focused on winning a medal with their leader. "It's strange that Jonas is performing so poorly in an era of cycling where everything is monitored. Several coaches have access to his stats, and yesterday he was anything but performing at his normal level."