Vingegaard labelled an 'anchor' by Rasmussen, unlikely to ride the 2026 World Championships: 'It won’t matter at all'

There’s a good chance we won’t see Jonas Vingegaard in action again in 2026. The Danish rider from Visma | Lease a Bike withdrew from the Tour de France last month after a crash that left him with a broken collarbone, and there’s a chance that this may have been his final race day of 2026, the usually reliable HLN reported on Saturday .

According to Bram Vandecapelle, Vingegaard will not be competing in the World Championships in Montreal at the end of September anyway. There have already been mixed reports from Denmark regarding Vingegaard’s participation. For example, Mads Pedersen openly invited him to come race in Canada, but former rider and Viaplay analyst Michael Rasmussen was less positive.

"If he rides the way he did during the Tour, then yes, he can make a difference," said Rasmussen. "But if he rides the way he did at last year’s European Championships, then it won’t matter at all. I think the team would be better off without him in that case, because a tremendous amount of energy would be spent on him."

Vingegaard, named a potential “anchor” by Rasmussen, raced the European Championships last year, but was dropped early on and did not finish. The last time the Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike finished a one-day race was in 2022. Back then, Vingegaard finished 16th in the Tour of Lombardy, a race he may not ride this season either.

With Paris-Nice, the Tour of Catalonia, the Giro d'Italia, and three-quarters of the Tour de France, Vingegaard has already racked up 51 race days. Nor would it be the first time he’s ended his season early: in 2024, the Tour of Poland, which ended in mid-August, was his final race, following a season marked by a serious crash in the Basque Country and a similarly challenging build-up to the Tour.

Visma | Lease a Bike has not yet confirmed the news and, according to HLN, will provide an update next week. Vingegaard himself said during the Tour of Denmark that he did not yet know whether he would be racing in 2026.