“I left my phone in the kitchen and my doorbell didn’t work. (The controllers) tried to call me but I couldn’t answer… It’s not very cool, of course, but I was tested two days later. I finally got tested but it’s not great to have missed a test. “It’s something I keep in mind to make sure it never happens again,” Jonas Vingegaard revealed to the Danish media Ekstra Bladet, whose statements were taken up by Cyclingnews and Rtbf.
Winner of a supersonic time trial which aroused suspicion during the last Tour de France in Combloux, the Dane sums up: “It’s a good thing to be tested all the time. It helps in a way. But even if we test negative it rings hollow in a way because runners 20 years ago also tested negative. One way or another, racers can still cheat. That’s why I don’t want to say ”I’m the runner who was tested the most often”. I never tested positive but at the time they didn’t either and people will certainly think that we are using the same subterfuges as before.
Aware that cycling carries the weight “of what happened 20 or 30 years ago”, Jonas Vingegaard assures: “It’s important to talk about the past. By continuing to talk about it, we increase the chances that it won’t happen again. It’s a kind of prevention.” And to conclude: “I’m not taking anything and I think the rest of the peloton is clean too. If I can win the Tour de France twice without taking anything, I have good reason to believe that all the other riders don’t take anything forbidden either.
