With the Tour de France just over a month away, Visma-Lease a Bike are confident that Jonas Vingegaard will be able to challenge for overall victory once again.
The Dane crashed out of Paris-Nice earlier this season, suffering concussion in the process, but his team boss Richard Plugge has said this week that his rider is going to be ready to take aim at a third Tour title in July.
If he is to take victory in Paris in two months time, Vingegaard will have to overcome Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who has appeared in ominous form so far this year, racking up victories from the UAE Tour to Liège-Bastogne-Liège. His Danish rival has not had such a vintage year, with just an overall win at the Volta ao Algarve to his name. Since then, the pair have both been training at altitude in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain.
Plugge is bullish about Vingegaard's chances, telling WielerFlits this week: "You could perhaps say that Pogačar is better on Tour of Flanders-like courses, but this is about a three-week race. And in our view, Jonas is better at that, to be able to handle that accumulation of fatigue, etc."
Pogačar and Vingegaard have swapped podium places for the last four years, with the former on top in 2021 and 2024, and the latter victorious in 2022 and 2023. Last year, Vingegaard came to the Tour recovering from a serious crash at Itzulia Basque Country, with Pogačar winning by over six minutes.
"Due to circumstances, Jonas was simply less in the final week last year," Plugge said. "I do think that UAE Team Emirates-XRG has made progress after the time trial to Combloux (where Vingegaard killed off Pogačar's chances) in the 2023 Tour.
"But so have we. And we are mainly looking at ourselves and how we can improve our performance. Compared to last year, we have taken another big step in that regard."
"Jonas gained minutes on Pogačar for two years in a row," Plugged continued. "Last year, after a very flawed start and a pretty bad finish, physically, Jonas was also a big competitor towards the end.
"Jonas has also made progress again. I have no reason not to believe that we can go for yellow again."
Speaking earlier this month, Vingegaard said that a lack of racing had only given him “even more motivation” for his upcoming goals.
“I know at this moment that I’m not on my best level yet, but that’s what I’m here [in Sierra Nevada] for,” he said. “Hopefully I can be even better than I have ever been before. If I’m better than I’ve ever been before, I’m pretty sure that then I can at least fight for the victory in the Tour de France.”
Both Pogačar and Vingegaard, along with fellow GC star Remco Evenepoel, will return to action at the Critérium du Dauphiné next weekend, a final racing test before the Tour beckons.
