“I actually think the person who posted it explained it quite well. That’s exactly what happened. He followed me, and then I simply went too fast into a corner. That was something I shouldn’t have done. So I crashed, but it wasn’t really that bad,” Jonas Vingegaard explains to TV 2 Sport.
Jonas Vingegaard felt perhaps slightly pressured by the amateur rider, and in trying to get away from him he took a rash chance that resulted in a crash.
However, he stresses that he has no problem with fans or amateur cyclists riding up to him to ask for a photo when he is out training. But he does not like being followed.
“Maybe he knows who I am, but we don’t know each other. And the fact that he’s sitting on my wheel feels a bit intrusive. I wouldn’t just follow someone down the street when I’m out walking either. So to me it feels a bit intrusive when people follow me like that,” says Vingegaard.
Tadej Pogačar has also said that you riders should be left alone when you’re training. Do you feel that it has got worse, or become more of a thing, that people try to ride after you when you’re training?
“Yes, I do. But actually it doesn’t happen that much when I ride at home in Denmark, because there aren’t that many people cycling around Glyngøre. It’s more when you’re abroad, because then there are many people sitting on your wheel. I think it’s fine if people come up and ask for a photo and then let us do the training we have to do. After all, it’s my job.
“Even though you might think I shouldn’t have to, I still have to take the person behind me into account. If I have to brake hard, I risk him riding into the back of me. If I’ve got a runny nose, I can’t just blow my nose because I might hit him. So I constantly have to take someone else into consideration. There’s a reason I’m out riding alone. It’s because I WANT to ride alone.
[...]
“When the crash had just happened, I also thought that if it continues like this and gets worse and worse, then that’s what it will end up with. Either the riders will have a motorbike or some kind of personal bodyguard so that people simply can’t get near us at all. And that would be even worse. We have to look after ourselves. When it becomes intrusive for us that people follow us, then something has to be done about it.
[...]
“Of course, it’s probably a big thing for them to see a rider like Tadej or me. But people have to accept that we’re at work – rather than sitting on our wheel or riding alongside us and chatting. We’re working, and I might be in the middle of an interval, and then I don’t have the time or the energy to sit and talk. In that sense I think they should give us a bit more privacy.”
sport.tv2.dk
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