"At least for once it was nice to try" - Jonas Vingegaard on attacking attitude that marked his 2025 season

Jonas Vingegaard has for many years been seen as a defensive rider mostly, a rider who is an excellent climber and time trialist, but not as complete as his rivals such as Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel. In 2025 however he tried to turn that around with more aggressive and intuitive tactics, which have seen him take the spotlight in a few unexpected occasions.

"Yes, I liked it. It was a different way of relaunching than what we normally did in the past. I liked the fact that it was a little more based on feeling and that we were more aggressive," Vingegaard said in words to TuttoBiciWeb. "I'm not saying you should always race like this, but at least for once it was nice to try, and I think it's fair to say we gave it our all to win the race."

At Paris-Nice his loss against João Almeida at La Loge des Gardes was due to an early attack that did not prove successful, but the Dane never got to show great form in the spring before it ended with the crash on stage 5 of the French race. It was only at the Criterium du Dauphiné that he looked to be at his traditional level, but stage 1 saw a surprise attack from him in the hilly finale which triggered the formation of a golden group with Pogacar, Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel and Santiago Buitrago.

"I think switching from being defensive to attacking can be more difficult for some. You want to attack, but then it's not possible, so you just have to focus on chasing. If you just want to chase, you suddenly find yourself having to attack, and that can be more difficult. For me, it shows that I'm also a very strong rider instinctively and tactically, and that's how I want to race," he says.

Against a peak form Tadej Pogacar there was nothing that could be done, but throughout the Tour de France Vingegaard also showed attacking mentality throughout many stages of the race, including some hilly ones where he tried to surprise as well. But every single one of his attacks was readily followed by the yellow jersey.

After the Tour the Dane raced and won the Vuelta a España, but then fatigue took over and he had no ability to contest races afterwards anymore. He ended his season with a participation at the climber-friendly European Championships, but was a non-finisher after getting dropped early on.

"I was happy to have competed in the European Championships, but to be honest, looking back, maybe I should have rested. I realized I needed a break more than I thought," he argues. "After the Vuelta, I had about a week of preparation and then I went to the European Championships, and the result wasn't what I hoped for." Ever since, he has been taking it easy, recovering from a long season, and now in December has began his focused preparation towards 2026 alongside Team Visma | Lease a Bike.

"Actually, I only had a few days of rest and then I continued training in Andorra and then I went to Japan (for the Saitama Criterium, which he won, ed.). I did low-intensity training three or four rides a week, and then I did intervals and kept the engine running for a bit. In Japan, I took my real vacation. Now I've gone to the Netherlands and then I'll work with the team in Spain (it is assumed that this was said in early December, ed.)."