Concerning News for Giro D’Italia Rivals of Jonas Vingegaard

Jonas Vingegaard was left without teammates for much of the finale of the Volta a Catalunya, but that didn’t bother the Danish rider Sunday. Rival such as Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz did what they could to distance him yet Vingegaard was more than willing to go wheel to wheel on the tough Montjüic circuit.

He sealed the overall and, with it, his sixth win of the season. He then had troubling news for his Giro d’Italia rivals.

“I think at the moment my shape is good without being at my very best yet,” he said. “So I’m optimistic for the Giro that I will be at a very, very high level there.”

Given what he’s already done this year, that pronouncement will be very concerning for others aiming for the maglia rosa.

Vingegaard was winner of two stages this week, as well as the overall. He had the same tally in Paris-Nice, and is already in incredible shape. Underlining that is the fact that his winning margin in Paris-Nice was over four minutes, the highest since the 1930s.

Next up? An altitude camp, with no more racing scheduled prior to the start of the Giro in five and a half weeks’ time.

He’ll further hone his form in the next period, and sees considerable scope for improvement.

“To be honest, I think I can get quite a bit better,” he said. “That’s what we think at least. And of course, it’s more [a case] that time will tell us.”

Parallels with Pogačar

Three or more years ago any bid to take both the Giro and the Tour de France in the same season was deemed almost impossible. The last rider to do the double was Marco Pantani way back in 1998. With many big names trying and failing since then, it was thought highly unlikely the feat would ever be achieved again.

However Tadej Pogačar had other thoughts and confirmed in December 2023 that he would try to win both events.

At the time he was coming off two consecutive Tour defeats by Vingegaard. Some suggested his decision to pinpoint the Giro was because he knew, deep down, that he couldn’t beat the Dane.

Pogačar duly went on to win the Giro, taking six stages along the way. He did the same in the Tour and also took the worlds for good measure.

Vingegaard will be hoping for the same trajectory this year. Thus far he’s replicated Pogačar’s win that year in Catalunya. He’s also matched the six victories the Slovenian had by the same point in that season.

That’s a big reflection of how well he is going. It’s also something that gives him momentum as his season gathers speed.

“This is a lot of motivation, first of all,” he said of his Catalunya success, “but also every victory gives more confidence. I’ve had a great start to the year. So it means a lot to me to start this way both in Paris-Nice but also here in Catalunya.

“It’s something that gives me a lot of confidence and motivation for what’s coming up.”

Revisiting Barcelona in the Tour

Pogačar is taking a very different approach to this year’s Tour.

Vingegaard is going all in on stage races, with his route to the Tour navigating through Paris-Nice, Catalunya and the Giro itself.

Pogačar is avoiding multiday events for the first few months of the year. He’s done—and won—Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, and will next target the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

After that he’ll ride Liège-Bastogne-Liège and then finally start doing stage races, namely the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse.

The idea is to try to keep him fresh and enable a Tour/Vuelta a España campaign, with the world championships also a target.

As for Vingegaard, he’s completely committed to his own grand tour double bid.

“Obviously my next race will be the Giro. That’s the first goal, but then also the Tour de France is also a really big goal of mine,” he said. “So obviously I need to be in in in super shape for the Tour de France.”

If he is, he will have a psychological boost at the grand depart. That’s thanks to the Tour beginning where his successful Volta a Catalunya campaign concluded.

“We start here in in Barcelona and I really enjoy this area of Spain,” he smiled. “It’s just a super nice area and the people are kind here.”

The good omens are accentuated by the actual routes to be used. Following the team time trial on July 5, stage two takes the riders on many of the same roads around Montjüic. It’s not exactly the same circuit as Sunday, but there are enough similarities to give Vingegaard extra morale.

That’s if any is needed; if he continues in his current fashion, he’ll be plenty psyched as it is.