150mm cranks and a bizarre saddle - Was this the secret to Jonas Vingegaard's Volta ao Algarve victory?

Jonas Vingegaard has won the Volta ao Algarve with a convincing time-trial where he put his rivals on blast and won significant time. After almost 6 months out of competition, the Dane showed up with several novelties in his time-trial bike, and this could've been an extremely successful improvement for his expected battle against Tadej Pogacar.

The cranks... Tadej Pogacar, very noticeably, started riding smaller 165mm cranks on his road bikes last year, and it could've potentially changed his riding style and helped him take the next step when it came to performances.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge recently said that: "We saw that Pogacar and other riders from Team UAE were racing with shorter cranks. We were also investigating that option, but they were the first to dare to implement it, and apparently it works."

Jonas Vingegaard ended his 2024 season in August and began training in October for 2025. This extra time on the bike was likely used to test some changes in the Dane's bike setup. Certainly, the use of shorter cranks was tested and Plugge's words anticipated what we'd see in the time-trial. Although it was a time-trial, Vingegaard did not only race a bike with reduced crank size, but he went as far down as 150mm.

Het Laatste Nieuws reported that 27 of the Dutch team's riders have effectively reduced their crank size, and that in some bikes this number had been scraped so as to escape the public eye. But open-eyed fans at the Volta ao Algarve measured a 150mm crank in Vingegaard's time-trial bike.

Vingegaard himself, before the time-trial, confirmed that he had gone through some changes: "We have made some small changes to the time trial bike. So just to see how it works, but also how I stand". The results speak for themselves.

But not only were the crank sizes under the spotlight this weekend, but also Vingegaard's unusual saddle. Made by Prologo, the custom-made saddle was visible on both Vingegaard and van Aert's bikes. Another unusual change, but an attempt at something new that seems to have worked quite effectively.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike were put on the spot in 2024 as (although hampered by injuries and illnesses) they became quite a secondary team to UAE Team Emirates - XRG, but this has not unmotivated the team. Instead, over the winter it seems like there was once again a lot of focus on where to potentially improve, and that entering 2025 these changes are being implemented and will become an extra challenge for the Emirati team and Tadej Pogacar this summer.