Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark’s most successful road cyclist, was absent from the World Championships in Montreal as he continued to recover from a crash at this year’s Tour de France that ended his season. A family update on 25 September offered the clearest sign yet that his rehabilitation is going to plan, coming roughly two months after the fall that cut short his summer.
Speaking about his progress, Vingegaard’s mother-in-law told Danish media, “He’s doing well.” The short message was welcomed by fans who had heard little from the rider himself since the injury, and it suggested he is on course to return to training and racing rather than facing any lasting setback from the crash.
The two-time Tour de France champion would have been among the names to watch in Montreal, where the elite men’s road race and time trial drew a strong field over the final week of September. His absence removed one of the sport’s biggest draws from the start list and left Denmark without its marquee rider on cycling’s showpiece stage, a gap felt keenly at home. The championships went ahead without him, and the Danish team lined up in Montreal missing the rider who would ordinarily have anchored its ambitions across the week.
The lay-off has also fed a debate in Denmark about how the rider handles the pressure of expectation. In the days around the championships, a former Danish professional questioned his appetite for the rainbow jersey, prompting others to defend him and argue that the desire to compete was never in doubt. Vingegaard, who has largely stayed out of the exchange, has built his reputation on grand tours rather than one-day racing.
For Danish cycling, the priority now is a clean recovery ahead of the 2027 season, when Vingegaard is expected to renew his rivalry with Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France. The positive health update, brief as it was, pointed to a rider on track to be back at the front. For a nation that has grown used to watching him contend for the sport’s biggest prizes, the news was a welcome close to an otherwise frustrating campaign.
