He's not saying a move would definitely be a good thing, but former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis has argued that the recently confirmed backing of Danish sponsor Netcompany for the Ineos Grenadiers team might offer a great opportunity for Jonas Vingegaard to join a new squad and that he should at least give it some thought.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the Danish IT company would be a new backer of the British team, with the squad officially to be rebranded as Netcompany-Ineos as soon as the Giro d'Italia in May.
Netcompany has been estimated to be planning to spend around €100 million over a five-year period on the team for their new project.
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That figure has not been confirmed, though, and it is not yet fully clear whether there might also be any kind of reduction in Ineos' current financial contribution to the squad as a result, either. Asked directly about this at the new sponsor launch, Director of Racing Geraint Thomas answered regarding Ineos that: "They're still the owners. They're still 100% committed, and I think it's just gonna be a great partnership between everyone."
Even so, the former Tour de France winner and team owner, Riis told BT that he believed Vingegaard – a Dane like himself –might possibly benefit from transferring from his current squad, Visma-Lease a Bike, to the rebranded team.
Asked if Visma should be nervous about the arrival of a powerful new Danish sponsor into the sport, Riis answered, "I would think so.
"It would be unambitious of Jonas if he didn't look into that. I'm not saying he should change, but he should think about it."
For all Riis' argument that the 29-year-old Dane might want to weigh up moving on from his current team, there has never been any real indication up to now that he might do so or that Vingegaard is in any way dissatisfied with his lifelong WorldTour team.
In 2023, Vingegaard extended his contract with Visma-Lease a Bike until the end of 2028. It has been his only WorldTour team since he joined cycling's top league in 2019, after two years with the Continental ColoQuick squad.
Yet for all the Dane has taken two Tours de France and a Vuelta a España, as well as a string of week-long WorldTour events, in the process establishing himself as one of the best stage racers of all time, Riis is seemingly convinced that at least mulling over the possibility of a change would do Vingegaard no harm.
"Right now, it would be a dream team for Jonas. The best team he could get into if he was going to threaten [Tadej] Pogačar," he told BT.
"I definitely see a match. Visma probably won't be happy to hear that, but there's no doubt about it. This new team has the people, resources and experience it needs."
Still known as Ineos Grenadiers, the British squad has given no indication about what it will do in the future regarding signings, although any large injection of extra funding would inevitably give rise to speculation about potential new riders, along with multiple other possible investments.
Team Principal Dave Brailsford has said, however, of the partnership with Netcompany that "Ultimately, it’s about creating the conditions to win the Tour de France.
Ineos Grenadiers currently are planning to build their main GC bid for the 2026 Tour around Oscar Onley, signed from Picnic PostNL at the end of 2025 after finishing fourth overall last July - behind Pogačar, Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Meanwhile, Vingegaard is currently building for his debut in the Giro d'Italia, where Visma-Lease a Bike are defending champions with now-retired racer Simon Yates. Later this summer, the Danish star will return to the Tour de France to try and win it for a third time in five years.
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