Bjarne Riis on compatriot Vingegaard: "If Jonas wants to go to the Tour, I don't think I would do the Giro first"

Denmark is a small nation and it hasn't in the past had many Tour de France winners, only two: Bjarne Riis and Jonas Vingegaard. The previous talked about the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider and his thoughts on a possible Giro-Tour double.

"We have seen that Pogacar can ride the Giro and then fly in the Tour shortly afterwards. We expect Jonas to be able to do that too. But if Jonas wants to go to the Tour, I don't think I would do the Giro first," Riis told BT. "I think it would be cool if Jonas does it. But it is also risky. Visma knows best how to recover and how to get him to his strongest. If the Tour is his first priority, then I find it difficult to see him riding the Giro first."

After seeing Tadej Pogacar do it and thrive this year, the Giro-Tour double may be on the minds of more riders as it becomes visible that riders can do both at their best form - aided by more modern and efficient training and recovery methods. Using the Giro as 'preparation' for the Tour is perhaps exaggerated, but in a way not fully illogical. Vingegaard is currently the only rider who can realistically defeat Pogacar in the mountains at his best, and he may change his aproach to the Tour in order to overun the Slovenian's absolute dominance in 2024.

"I say that based on the fact that he is not the defending Tour winner. If he had won this year, it would have been a different matter. But there are also many things that they know that we do not know. And then I also have to say that the boy might want to try something new, that is possible," Riis admits, and we are certain already that Vingegaard will have the Tour as his main goal, and that Pogacar will very likely not race the Giro this time around.