Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) will race for the first time since his Tour de France triumph, getting back into action at the CRO Race, which you can watch LIVE and FREE on SBS On Demand from September 27 – October 1.
The UCI 2.1-ranked stage race will host the Tour de France champion when it begins on 27 September. Vingegaard joins an impressive array of stars for the Croatian race, with Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas (both INEOS Grenadiers), Damiano Caruso and Majej Mohorič (both Bahrain Victorious) also on the provisional start list.
The CRO Race has not yet announced its full roster of teams but Trek-Segafredo are expected to field a team, as are Israel-Premier Tech, with the Israeli team in the battle for crucial points to avoid relegation from the WorldTour.
Defending champion Stephen Williams’ Bahrain Victorious squad is yet to be confirmed for the race, a year after the British rider took out an attacking edition of the event.
Vingegaard has not raced winning the Tour de France. He missed last month's Denmark Tour and pulled out of the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong.
The Danish star of the sport, is not one for celebrity, indicating during the Tour de France interviews that he would prefer the spotlight be off him. Jumbo-Visma director Frans Maassen indicated the Dane has experienced "a very tough time" since winning the yellow jersey.
“I understand that the spectators want to see Jonas, and I spoke to him about it yesterday. But he has had it very hard after the Tour,” Maassen said.
"We would have liked to show him off during the Tour of Denmark, but we also have to understand that it was difficult to win the Tour de France, what with everything that comes with it."
Another Jumbo-Visma director, Grischa Niermann, highlighted these concerns and the reasons behind the Dane's absence from cycling since his famous victory in France.
"He worked towards the Tour for months and then he won it. It came with a lot of pressure, with a lot of demands from the fans, from our sponsors, from the Danish public, from the media, and now he needed a little break," Niermann said.
"I don’t think there is a problem or that he had a hard time; I think it’s normal that you need a little bit of a mental and physical break."
However, Vingegaard's withdrawal from the World Championships to be held in Wollongong next week did not sit well with the Danish federation in light of his absence from the Olympic Games the previous year, despite the Grand Tour winner being shy of the limelight and in need of a break from the sport.
"I had a dialogue with Jumbo-Visma before and after the Tour de France. And after the Tour, they announced firmly that it was not part of the plans for Vingegaard to ride the World Championships," Danish coach Anders Lund said.
"I always want all the professionals to stand and raise their hands in the air and want to ride for the national team, so I would also have liked to see Vingegaard in the group of riders who want to ride the World Championships.
"But I take it into account, and I can see from the squad that it will be more than effective anyway."
Watch the CRO Race on SBS On Demand from September 27 on SBS On Demand.
