Jonas Vingegaard played down suggestions that he will ride the Giro d’Italia next May when asked to reveal the early plans for his 2025 campaign.
The two-time Tour de France champion has been heavily linked with a possible Giro debut next year by some, but Vingegaard said in a press conference on Thursday that nothing has been decided, and that plans for his season won’t be firmed up until the Visma-Lease a Bike winter training camp in December.
"The Giro is a race that I would like to ride in my career. But I cannot say if it's next year or the year after or if it will ever happen," he said when asked what the chances were of him appearing in Italy next May.
Despite being further pressed for answers on his possible schedule, Vingegaard saw the funny side of reporters' questioning and opted to make a joke out of the situation.
He said: "The Giro is always an option. It also was last year. I mean, of course, the door is open. The door is also open for, I don't know, Flanders and Roubaix, nothing has to be decided yet… The door is only closed once we have made the schedule, and we haven't finalized it yet."
Vingegaard hinted that he would be open to the possibility of lining up for Denmark at next year’s Rwanda World Championships. The next three courses in Rwanda, Montréal in Canada and the French Alps feature stacks of elevation gain, something which the Dane admitted was an appealing prospect, despite his lack of prowess in one-day races.
"I think for sure it's, hopefully, three good courses for me," he said, before highlighting that his strengths typically lie in stage race settings.
"But of course, when there's a World Championships like this with a good course for me, it's an opportunity," he added when discussing Rwanda. "So I would like to do that as well. Hopefully I can be there and do my best."
Carbon monoxide inhalation
Cycling’s world governing body, the UCI, recently called on the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] to take up a position on the practice of carbon monoxide inhalation, after it was revealed by Escape Collective that the practice was commonplace amongst some of the best teams at the Tour de France.
Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike squad was named by Escape as one of the teams that used carbon monoxide rebreathing devices. Some teams used the equipment to test riders blood values at the start and end of altitude training.
In addition to this, a carbon monoxide rebreather can also be used to inhale the poisonous gas in order to improve performance. There is no evidence that teams on the WorldTour have been doing this to date, nor is it yet banned by WADA.
Vingegaard made clear that he had never heard of the second method which was outlined by the UCI this week as being potentially problematic.
"I understand if it's misused, but I never knew that it could be misused," he said when discussing the UCI’s concerns. "I think I said before that we only used it to test if the altitude camps are working or not."
"So what I heard is that if you misuse it, it can be used instead of an altitude camp, and if you use it in that way, then they say there can be some health issues, but that's not the way we use it," he added.
"Of course, I will follow what the UCI and WADA are saying about this," Vingegaard said. "So if they will ban it, of course, I will never do it again."
