If you watch pro racing, you know there are all kinds of names that might be tough if English is your first language. Well, in fact, all names can be tricky if they are in another tongue, no matter what yours is.
Not everyone is a polyglot, so it can be hit or miss learning the right way to say something.
When Jonas Vingegaard (Hansen) rose on the world stage, I personally cringed every time people said his name wrong. As someone of Danish descent—with a similar middle name, Stjernegaard—I was quick to correct people.
🔊🗣️ | How do you pronounce the names of your favorite riders?
This winter, we added pronunciations for nearly 1,000 riders, from Tour de France-stars to riders deep in the Asian UCI-circuits.
Are you a rider or team and missing yours?
Send us a DM and we’ll sort you out! pic.twitter.com/FHclgBsx5g— 🟥🟥⬛️ ProCyclingStats.com (@ProCyclingStats) January 22, 2026
But, at the same time, I learned that I was saying riders’ names wrong too—Tadej Pogačar is one that everyone outside of Slovenia had a hard time with at first. Thankfully Canadian Cycling Magazine‘s eddy-in-chief Matthew Pioro is of Polish descent, so he helped me learn how to properly say another tricky one (for me), Kasia Niewiadoma.
On proper pronunciation
In 2025, I even wrote about a few commentators who really nailed names and how I respected them for it.
José Been, who is Dutch and a polyglot with a deep cycling pedigree—her father was a directeur sportif—is not just an expert in pro cycling; she’s also a pro at pronunciation.(If you’ve been to the Netherlands, you already know you’ve been saying “Gouda” wrong this whole time.)
Jonas Vingegaard is now a Hansen and I for one, very much approve
There’s also Rob Hatch, who is English but has learned all the right ways to say Dutch, Flemish, and French names. So it certainly can be done—despite some commentators who either haven’t tried or just don’t care.
It’s important to say people’s names correctly. That’s why the popular website ProCyclingStats recently unveiled a feature that has a pronunciation guide for over 1,000 riders.
The implemnetation of the pronunciation guides
The idea for the pronunciation guide has actually existed for quite some time, but due to lack of time it remained on the back burner, PCS’s Stephan van der Zwan said. (By the way, you can tell Stephan is
Dutch by the lack of caps on “van der”—much like Mvdp. A Flemish rider would…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…