Jonas Vingegaard publicly questions how the Vuelta can continue: "We may have already seen the last stage winner"

Vingegaard was particularly eager to win, as he explained to Eurosport at the team bus. “It’s my son’s birthday today, he just turned one. So I really wanted to win for him, and we worked all day toward that. The fact that we didn’t get that opportunity is a real shame. I would’ve loved the chance to win this stage for him, but it is what it is.”

The stage was altered just before the final climb, with official times taken 3 kilometers from the original finish, but no stage winner. That meant Vingegaard still had to give it his all on the Alto de Pike. “I was a bit disappointed. I didn’t want to do anything, but then Tom Pidcock attacked and I had to let him go. On the descent, I caught up again and we worked well together to gain some time back. I wasn’t sure if Tom was even aware of the situation, because he just kept pushing on.”

Speaking to TV2, he added: “This might be the last time we’ve had a stage winner in the Vuelta. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few days. I hope we can race our bikes, because this is the wrong place to try and make a statement. What do they want from us as riders? I can’t do anything,” said the Dane.

Despite the bizarre situation in the Basque Country, Jonas Vingegaard still saw some silver linings. “As a team, we did really well. The fact that on a day where everyone wanted to be in the breakaway, only three riders managed to get up the road says it all. The control was impressive,” said the Dane, who also gave credit to the authorities. “The police did a very good job. The first time we passed the finish line, we could already see people trying to get onto the road. Later we were blocked once on another climb, but we were still able to ride through.”

Victor Campenaerts also had high praise for the team’s effort. “The plan was to go for the stage win. We knew it would be hard to control this kind of course, because a lot of riders would be highly motivated. Dylan van Baarle and Wilco Kelderman did an excellent job; they set the pace from the start. Three strong riders went up the road, but they quickly realized it wouldn’t be their day.”

“Unfortunately, there are no results to show for it, but we can move forward with confidence. João Almeida is the rider we fear the most, and we gained time on him, so we can still look back on this as a ‘good’ day,” said the Belgian, who was still among the favorites when the news of the stage neutralization started to spread.

"We heard it with ten kilometers to go before the final climb, and by then everyone quickly understood what the situation would be. It’s unfortunate, we would have liked to keep racing for results. But in the end, the effort wasn’t for nothing, because we did gain a few seconds back," he concluded on a positive note.

Sports director Jesper Mørkøv shared similar doubts. “We have mixed feelings. We really wanted to go for this stage, as everyone could see on TV. It’s a shame we couldn’t carry that through, but we also saw the footage in the team car, and that’s just the way it is. The organization communicated very clearly, and we passed that along to the riders. It’s not up to us to say what’s right or wrong.”

As for Visma | Lease a Bike’s exact plan, he kept his cards close to his chest. “We’re not going to say too much yet, because we might try it again,” he said mysteriously, after being caught off guard by Pidcock’s attack. “He rode very strongly. He showed once again how explosive he is, and we definitely see him as one of Jonas’ biggest rivals, although Jonas was also very strong.”