"I think he can get a lot of victories" - Alberto Contador on Jonas Vingegaard's La Vuelta return

The Vuelta a España 2025 is just around the corner and Alberto Contador, former winner of this race and current commentator on Eurosport Spain, has shared his opinions on the race as well as casting a warning to Jonas Vingegaard.

The Spaniard is very clear that the Dane is the strongest cyclist in the world in stage-races only behind Tadej Pogacar and, although he thinks he is the big favorite to win, he does not put pressure on him and believes that it would not be a failure if he did not manage to take the victory next Sunday, September 14 in Madrid.

"Everyone knows that Vingegaard is the second best Grand Tour rider behind Pogacar. It's true that if he missed out on victory it would be surprising, but he has nothing to prove." Considering that the Vuelta a España 2025 has numerous mountain stages that are well suited to the characteristics of Jonas Vingegaard, Alberto Contador is very clear that the Dane can raise his arms more than once, something he believes he should try to do:

"With eight summit finishes (correction: there are more, ed.), I think he can get a lot of victories. Visma is a very strong team with a big budget and they have to get as many wins as possible. He is the top favorite and is a step above the rest, but in a Grand Tour many things can happen". Specially in a season where the Visma leader hasn't yet won at World Tour level, a boost in confidence is also necessary.

Finally, when asked about the possibility of Vingegaard becoming a real rival of Pogacar and Van der Poel in the great classics or monuments of world cycling, the Madrid-born rider believes so, although he qualifies some races in which, due to the type of rider, he does not see him competing against the favorites:

"Maybe I don't know about Flanders, but some other classics I think so. He's a rider who handles himself very well. He has an interesting sprint in case he arrives with a rider. I think he's a good option".

For races such as Il Lombardia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège it would make full sense to see the Dane trying to aim for a strong result as these monuments are battled between the climbers every year now, and both this year's World and European Championships courses are also aimed towards these riders.