Even after two straight Tour de France victories, Jonas Vingegaard seems as unknowable now as he did when he first announced himself at this race in 2021. He turns up, he performs, he doesn’t say a whole lot, and he goes home.
Two years ago, when Vingegaard was unexpectedly ushered into a leadership role at Jumbo-Visma following Primoz Roglič’s early abandon, reporters scrambled to flesh out the neophyte’s back story.
They pounced gratefully on the detail that he had worked at a fish factory in Hanstholm before making the leap to the WorldTour, and Vingegaard patiently and politely talked them through the details. “I didn’t cut the fish: I was the guy who put it in ice and made it ready for them to cut the fish,” he explained.
Since then, and though his status has grown immeasurably, it’s difficult to say that the world has learned a great deal more about Vingegaard beyond his love for the quiet life with his young family. His social media footprint is light and media access is tightly controlled outside of races. In press conferences, he rarely uses twenty words when three will do.
Vingegaard is not the first enigma to dominate the Tour, and there are mild shades of Miguel Indurain about his reserved nature, but his apparent lack of interest in controlling the narrative is striking all the same. When he opted to miss the Tour of Denmark last August, for instance, it prompted speculation he was suffering from burn-out after his Tour victory. His silence only served to amplify the murmurs, but he didn’t feel any need to rush to correct the record at the time.
After sealing his second straight Tour by placing third behind Tadej Pogačar (USA Team Emirates) on stage 20 to Le Markstein on Saturday, Vingegaard dismissed the idea that he had struggled with the weight of his first title a year ago. There was no trace of irritation in his voice as he did so, it seemed more like a simple statement of fact.
“As I have said many times before, I didn’t have any problems last year,” Vingegaard said after taking a seat in the press tent. “I just chose to take it really easy and relax. I wasn’t having any problems at all. It wasn’t hard for me, so I assume it will be the same this year.”
Vingegaard speaks in the same guarded way now as he did when he first emerged as a Tour contender two years ago, but he suggested that his belief in his own means had grown considerably since that break-out season when he rose so dramatically in the stage racing hierarchy at Jumbo-Visma.
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