Jonas Vingegaard arrived today on the Portuguese coast and tomorrow he will begin his season with the Volta ao Algarve. The first stage will be from Portimão to Lagos, and the two-time Tour de France winner will make his return to racing after a six-month break: he has been inactive since August 18th, the last stage of the Tour of Poland which he won.

"I feel very good, my preparation has been without any hitches and my training sessions have been very high-quality – the Dane said in a press conference -: my condition is slowly taking shape and I can't wait to race because it's been a while since I wore a race number".

In the past two years, the Dane has always started the year in Spain with O Gran Camino, where he obtained two overall victories and 6 stage wins, but this time he chose Algarve.

"The Galician race was great and actually went well for me and I really liked it, but I simply wanted to try something different".

Vingegaard thus chose to start in Portugal with a strong team that will help him achieve overall victory.

"I hope to be able to fight for first place and we have a strong team and I'm not the only one who can aim for something important. Roglic and Almeida will be there and the race won't be easy against them. In training, my sensations are really good, I feel like I've made a lot of progress recently and I feel strong. But it's in the race that you can obviously better judge your level by measuring yourself against your rivals. We've changed some elements of my preparation: for example, I haven't yet done a high-altitude training camp as I used to and I'll do that in May. It's difficult to evaluate the impact this will have on my form right now, although I think it will be felt especially in the long term. The idea is to be fresher in the first part of the season and I'm a rider who gets into shape quite quickly".

During these months away from racing, many things have happened in the Danish rider's life, such as the birth of his second child. "During this period, I missed the adrenaline of racing and everything else, basically what makes you love cycling. I think the arrival of the first child changes your horizons more than the arrival of the second. In any case, everything is going very well right now. It's no secret that I'm a father who loves his family and I try to enjoy every moment".

The Volta ao Algarve will conclude with a very tough 19-kilometer time trial that will climb to the top of Malhao. A stage that in many ways will be an important test for the Dane.

"We had decided on my participation in this race before knowing the route. But this last stage will be interesting to test some changes and settings on my time trial bike, like hand positioning. So we'll see how it goes".

Wout van Aert will also be at the start of Algarve, and Vingegaard has often said that in racing he likes to return the work his teammates do for him. This race could therefore be a good opportunity to thank the Belgian. "I always try to return the favor to my teammates, I believe I've already demonstrated this in the past. If I have the opportunity to be useful to Wout, I won't hesitate to work for him, but it will be appropriate to do so intelligently, without taking too many risks, such as in a chaotic stage finale. I haven't raced with Wout since the Tour, but he's really a guy I enjoy doing team play with".

To date, Vingegaard has always skipped the spring Classics and this year we won't see him in one-day races like the Ardennes Classics and Roubaix. "These are great races and I wouldn't rule out participating one day, but for now I'll continue to focus on stage races".