Jonas Vingegaard has reiterated that he didn't suffer with burn-out after winning the 2022 Tour de France, insisting he just stayed at home in Denmark and savoured his success.
After defeating Tadej Pogačar to win the Tour de France, Vingegaard missed both his home race, the Tour of Denmark and and only returned to racing after a two-month break in late September at the low-key CRO Race in Croatia. Barring criterium appearances, he only took part in Il Lombardia before calling a halt to his season.
Although Jumbo-Visma sports director Frans Maassen said in August that Vingegaard was having a tough time after the Tour de France because of extra pressure, and fellow Danish rider Michael Morkov suggested that Vinegegaard was “no doubt exhausted” post-Tour, Vingegaard played down the stories of post-July burn-out in a lengthy interview, published by Het Laatste Nieuws.
“That was all exaggerated, the media has created a story that wasn't there. Why should I hide?,” he said, according to the Belgian newspaper.
"I'm still the same Jonas I was before my win. Quiet and peaceful.”
Asked directly what happened after the Tour, Vingegaard answered simply “I celebrated my victory and then went home. It was no more or less than that.”
“We were still thinking about a Vuelta participation, but it was not ideal condition-wise. Seriously, I had fun with friends and family. I took my time to relax and have a good winter. As a Tour winner, everyone has an opinion about what you should and shouldn't do, right?"
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I can't change that. All I can say is that it has no effect on me. I don't care . I only listen to the people on the team.”
Vingegaard was at the centre of attention every time he raced after winning the Tour de France, even at the post-Tour criteriums and the end of season Tour de France criteriums in Singapore and Saitama.
He suggested they are a little different to real races.
"You sometimes feel like a circus monkey,” he joked. “Of course you can also say 'no' to such an invitation. Then you don't feel like a circus monkey, but then you don't have a financially sound deal either."
Regarding the 2023 Tour and the absence of Primoz Roglic from the Jumbo-Visma line-up for next July, Vingegaard said he was not overly troubled as the race will have a very different feel to 2022 in any case. He will be Jumbo-Visma's sole leader.
"It will be different anyway. Primoz was the one who took me under his wing, my mentor within the team. He's going to the Giro, that will be fun for him,” Vingegaard observed.
He admitted that Jumbo-Visma would not be able to carry out the same kind of two-pronged, two-leader attack over the Galibier as in 2022, when they isolated and then cracked Pogačar.
“With no Primoz there,” he recognised, “it will not be possible.”
Vingegaard denied that the rumours that he might have opted for the Giro d’italia would have been possible for 2023, instead saying that although he will ride it one day, as he is currently winning the Tour, he is all but obliged to return to France.
“I'm looking forward to going back with the number one jersey. I will be the sole leader. That creates - just like the fact that I am the defending champion - more and at the same time less pressure. I won the Tour,” he explained in the HLN article.
“Sometimes I wake up and have to convince myself it wasn't a dream, but I know how to do it now.”
“If I never win again, I can always say that I succeeded once. On the other hand, everything falls on my shoulders, but I can handle that. No problem. It even feels comfortable to be the defending champion.”
His goals for 2023, in any case, do not just include a Tour de France repeat win.
Having come so close to taking a week-long stage race at the CRO Race, Vingegaard said that he would be skipping the Ardennes Classics in the interests of going for a week-long stage race in the spring.
“For now I just can't manage to perform in one-day races. I don't quite know why that is. I still need to get the hang of it," Vingegaard admitted.
“Next year I am aiming for an overall victory in a stage race. I’ll ride Gran Camiño [Feb 23-26], Paris-Nice [March 5-12] and the Tour of the Basque Country [April 3-8]. Those are concrete goals towards the Tour.”
“Above all, I also want to start the Tour fresh. Maybe even more than this year.”
