Is Jonas Vingegaard ready to beat Tadej Pogačar and go from Giro to hero at the Tour de France?
Jonas Vingegaard's Giro-Tour double mission is an intriguing prospect, and the question on many minds is whether he can dethrone Tadej Pogačar and claim the coveted yellow jersey. With a comfortable GC victory at the Giro d'Italia under his belt, Vingegaard is now turning his attention to the Tour de France, aiming to become just the ninth man to win both races in the same year.
Vingegaard's dominance at the Giro was evident, as he won five of the six mountain stages and finished over five minutes ahead of Felix Gall. This victory not only solidifies his place in cycling history as the eighth man to win all three Grand Tours, but also sets the stage for a potential historic double.
However, the path to this achievement is fraught with challenges. The conventional wisdom suggests that riding the Giro d'Italia exhausts a GC rider, leaving them in worse shape for the Tour de France than if they had spent May training at altitude and warmed up with a stage race in June. History supports this notion, with it taking 26 years for a rider to last claim the Giro-Tour double, between Marco Pantani's 1998 successes and Pogačar's 2024 victories.
Despite this, Vingegaard remains confident. He attributes this to his previous experiences riding the Vuelta a España after the Tour, where his performance numbers were better. Additionally, he believes he didn't push himself to the limit at the Giro, as he didn't have a serious rival, and many analysts thought he was only riding at 90% of his full capacity. This allowed him to conserve energy and reach his peak form for the Tour.
Vingegaard's recovery from a serious accident in 2023 also plays a significant role in his confidence. After breaking his sternum, several ribs, and a collarbone, as well as puncturing both lungs, he made a remarkable recovery to finish second at the Tour and then win the Vuelta. This, combined with his previous experiences, has given him the belief that he can handle the Giro-Tour double.
However, the challenge of beating Pogačar cannot be understated. Pogačar, who is going for a joint-record fifth yellow jersey, has been a formidable opponent in the past. In 2025, Pogačar won four stages and beat Vingegaard by 4:24. This year, with teenage sensation Paul Seixas also in the mix, the competition is even fiercer.
Vingegaard's time-trialling performances have also been a concern. While he smashed Pogačar by over 90 seconds in a mountainous time trial at the 2023 Tour, his time-trialling performances have been less consistent since. At last year's Vuelta, he ceded time to his main GC rival João Almeida, and three other GC riders posted better times than he did during the recent Giro's 42km TT.
Despite these challenges, Vingegaard remains optimistic. He believes he is in better shape than at any other point in the past, and he is confident that he can push Pogačar to new levels. With a final altitude camp in Tignes and a focus on recovery and training, Vingegaard is poised to take on the Tour de France, aiming to write his own history and become the ninth man to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same year.
