Jonas Vingegaard will delay his 2026 season start following a bike crash and then an illness, as Team Visma - Lease a Bike has confirmed that the Danish cyclist will not participate in the UAE Tour later this month. Vingegaard suffered a crash during training in Málaga, Spain.
"I was really looking forward to returning to the UAE Tour and am therefore disappointed that we have had to make this decision. However, the combination of the crash and subsequent illness made it necessary. It is better to fully recover first so that I can then focus on my next goals", said Vingegaard, who won La Vuelta a España 2025 and finished second in Tour de France in 2025.
The UAE Tour is one of the first events of the UCI World Tour, worth 300 World Ranking points for the winner, first held in 2019. The most recent edition was won by Tadej Pogacar and consisted on seven stages, 1,013.2 km in total through the United Arab Emirates. The 2026 edition takes place on February 16.
Vingegaard will likely instead wait for the Volta a Catalunya, late March, for his debut on the 2026 UCI World Tour.