While winning the Tour de France for a third time remains Jonas Vingegaard‘s, and his team Visma-Lease a Bike’s, main objective for 2026, the Dane said that his preference would be to complete the set of Grand Tours with a maiden victory at the Giro d’Italia on debut.
He’s teased already that a Giro-Tour double attempt could be on the horizon, but has advanced this further, speaking in Japan having won the Tour de France Saitami Criterium at the weekend despite crashing earlier in the race.
Vingegaard added a first Vuelta a España red jersey to his two yellow jerseys from the Tour de France, and after that overall victory was hungry to join the list of seven riders to have won the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, which includes the likes of Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome.
“After the Tour de France and the Vuelta, I still have the Giro left… but we haven’t yet decided if I’ll be competing in it next season,” he added, noting how the Tour would likely remain on his schedule.
Of course, standing in his way of winning the Tour again remained Tadej Pogačar, the man he beat in 2022 and 2023, but has lost to the past two seasons. The Slovenian was also the most recent person to complete the Giro-Tour double, after no rider managed the feat for 26 years.
Pogačar’s dominance has grown significantly and Vingegaard, while finishing as runner-up, has been no match for the World Champion at the past two Tours. The Dane wasn’t giving up the ghost, however, confident that he still had ample room to improve after a major crash affected his build-up two years ago and a concussion disrupted his approach this past year.
“Sometimes, Tadej can seem truly untouchable. He’s very strong. He’s undoubtedly the best rider in the world right now,” said Vingegaard of his long-term rival. “But if I tell myself he’s unbeatable, it would mean giving up on the idea of catching him. So I won’t say that.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…