Until Tadej Pogačar completed the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in 2024 and brought it back as a possibility for the first time since Marco Pantani in 1998, it was fading away as an achievable feat in cycling.
Even when the previous generation’s best – Chris Froome in 2018 and Alberto Contador three years prior – came close, winning the Italian Grand Tour ahead of cycling’s biggest race, on both occasions come July they weren’t able to match the form they’d shown and then lost.
Following the Slovenian’s complete domination of the Giro on debut, which preceded his first Tour win in three years, one of his contemporaries – and main rival – Jonas Vingegaard, is following suit in 2026 and taking aim at the prestigious double.
Rumoured for the best part of two seasons, Vingegaard’s participation at the Giro was confirmed on Tuesday at Visma-Lease a Bike’s media day in La Nucia. It won’t replace the Tour, of course, as he’ll once again look to wrest back the yellow jersey from Pogačar’s firm grasp as he did in 2022 and 2023. But it does mark an entirely new approach.
Previous years since Vingegaard’s rise to the top have seen him follow a quite traditional, Tour-centric calendar. That’s the complete opposite of his main rival Pogačar, who opts for racing as many one-day Classics as he wants in the early season, but this time round Visma have allowed Vingegaard to switch things up for the new season.
Come the Giro’s Bulgaria Grande Partenza, there will also be a bit of history on the line for the Dane, as he’ll be looking to become only the eighth rider in men’s cycling history to take victory in all three Grand Tours, following on from his maiden Vuelta a España victory last September. It’s a feat which he would achieve before Pogačar if he manages victory, with the Slovenian still lacking a Vuelta title.
But is he right to race both, with the gap between Pogačar and him at the Tour staying just as wide this past July as it did in 2024? There will be questions raised over whether Vingegaard racing the Giro signals an admission that ever winning the Tour against Pogačar again is a stretch, but could a risky approach actually be just what the Dane needs?
Benefits of the double
Vingegaard has raced two Grand Tours in the same season twice in his career so far, both being Tour-Vuelta combinations in 2023 and this past season, and both…
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