Dominant Vingegaard expects further gains

Maybe Tadej Pogačar won’t have it his own way this year. That’s what fans of Jonas Vingegaard will be hoping, with an effervescent performance in Paris-Nice promising good things for the months ahead.

Vingegaard sealed overall victory in the race on Sunday, finishing second in a very close sprint with Lenny Martinez and—more significantly—ending the eight day event almost four and a half minutes clear of his closest rival.

It’s a crushing performance, the fourth biggest winning margin in the history of the race and, as noted by Pro Cycling Stats, the best since the 1930s.

“It means a lot to me,” Vingegaard said. “It has been the one that I just couldn’t get right. Now finally I get it right. That makes me extremely happy. It is a good start to the year and something that I am really proud of.”

The Dane has competed in the race two times before. In 2023 he finished third overall behind Pogačar and David Gaudu, conceding 1:39 to his big rival but then going on to defeat him months later in the Tour.

He also competed in the race last year, but crashed out and suffered concussion as a result of his fall on stage five.

In what is a case of third time’s the charm, he won stages four and five, was second on stage eight, and ended up four minutes 23 in front of Dani Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). The rider in third, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) was over six minutes adrift.

That’s a really emphatic result, and underlines just how well he is performing.

‘Just about racing’

Vingegaard’s whitewashing of his GC rivals is a big story in itself, but doesn’t give the full picture. He also won the points and mountains competitions, joining Sean Kelly and Bernard Hinault as those who achieved that trio of classification victories in the same edition.

The result is an important one for him as it comes following two tough spring campaigns in as many years. In 2024 he crashed heavily in the Itzulia Basque Country and was off the bike for many weeks. Last year he crashed out of Paris-Nice.

He finished second behind Pogačar in the past two editions of the Tour but will hope that a smoother buildup will see him back to his very best.

Thus far the signs are encouraging. Daniel Benson’s substack reported this month that Vingegaard has been posting his best-ever numbers in training.

If so, there is a problem for his rivals: he believes he has more room to grow.

“I think definitely it is very, very good at the moment,” he said of his form. “I do still think I can improve for the upcoming races so hopefully I can do that and especially for the Tour.”

Still, he is resists suggestions that his dominance in Paris-Nice is in some ways a message to Pogačar.

“No, I think for me it is just about racing,” he said. “Trying to win the races that I am doing. This was my first race of the year. I am just extremely happy with how everything went here.”

He’s right to be, and so too are his team and his supporters. The Tour is months away but it and his upcoming goal of the Giro d’Italia are looking a lot more interesting that could otherwise be the case.

Pogačar has dominated the past two seasons. Given Vingegaard’s Paris-Nice performances, that may not necessarily be the case this time round.