Vingegaard anticipates the loss of two key Jumbo-Visma tour domestiques (and also braces for a third)

Jonas Vingegaard expects Sepp Kuss to move up in the pecking order at Jumbo-Visma, following Primoz Roglic's departure from the team. The Danish Tour de France winner appears to have a monopoly as the man for the grand tours, but he doesn't see it that way, as he discusses with DR. He also addresses the loss of two crucial domestiques in the Tour.

Vingegaard won the Tour de France for a second consecutive year in 2023 and rode the Vuelta a España for the first time in his career. He won two stages and finished second in the overall classification, behind Kuss. Kuss himself immediately stated that in 2024 he would again ride in support of others, but is that really the case? "I believe Sepp will go to the Vuelta as the leader to defend his title. In the Tour, I will be the leader, but he might have a different role than he has had in the past years," predicts Vingegaard.

Jumbo-Visma may not allow Kuss the same freedom in the Tour to attack on climbs and ease off in some stages. "He often helped in the finale, but he is so strong that he himself can also ride top five. So we can keep him in the race. I don't think I'll lose him as the most important domestique on the climbs, but we need to talk about it. Sepp may have his own ideas, but we have to see how we can have the best chance of winning the Tour. If that's with me as the leader, then we will ride for me. But it could also be in a different way."

Vingegaard to miss Van Aert and Van Hooydonck in the Tour de France

In addition to the Kuss situation, Vingegaard is already certain that in 2024 he will have to aim for the Tour de France victory without two important domestiques. "The big goal for Wout (Van Aert, ed.) next year is probably the Giro, and then probably the Olympic Games, I imagine. The course in Paris suits him very well, which is perhaps also the reason he did not want to ride the Tour de France."

"He is one of the best domestiques I've had in the past three years," says the Dane, who also mentions another helper. "Not only him, but with Nathan Van Hooydonck we lose two great domestiques in the Tour. Wout is good on all terrains and can make a big difference. Nathan makes a big difference on the flat, he always kept me safe there. We are going to miss them, because they are hard to replace. It will be interesting to see what this will do to the Tour team. Getting replacements now is a bit late."

Evenepoel and Roglic to provide new competition in the Tour

It's all less than ideal, as unlike in 2022 and 2023, Vingegaard will face much more competition overall for the Tour title next season. Teammate Primoz Roglic has transferred to BORA-hansgrohe, and Remco Evenepoel is set to debut in the world's biggest stage race for Soudal-Quick Step. Tadej Pogacar will normally compete in the Tour as well. The Slovenian was the main, and actually only, challenger to Vingegaard in the past two editions.

"We might be the four best general classification riders in cycling at the moment, so it will be exciting to see where Evenepoel and Roglic stand in comparison to Pogacar and myself," says the Jumbo-Visma team leader. "I won't be able to let them all ride away, because what if you can't make up that time later? I'll have to watch all of them, not just focus on one."