"I went to his house in Denmark" - Visma boss reveals secret post-Vuelta meeting that mapped out Jonas Vingegaard’s double Grand Tour mission in 2026
Cycling
Jonas Vingegaard’s historic Giro d’Italia victory was not a spontaneous late decision from Team Visma | Lease a Bike. It was born months earlier, inside the Danish home of the rider who had just won the Vuelta a Espana and was already looking towards the next phase of his career.
Vingegaard became just the eighth rider in cycling history to win all three Grand Tours when he completed the set at the Giro in May, finishing more than five minutes clear of Felix Gall in Rome.
In a new Visma documentary, team boss Richard Plugge has revealed that the Giro project began soon after Vingegaard’s Vuelta triumph in September 2025.
The Giro gave Vingegaard the chance to complete the Grand Tour set before returning to the Tour de France with another major victory already secured. For Visma, it was a season-shaping call made long before the race reached Italy.
Visma’s post-Vuelta visit to Denmark
“Not long after the Vuelta a Espana celebration in September, Jacco and I went to his house in Denmark,” Plugge explains in the documentary, referring to Jacco Verhaeren, Visma’s head of the sporting department.
“We had a really good conversation with him, where we talked about what the next goals should be, and how we should do it. And that was where the idea of trying to win the Giro started. The idea of winning all three Grand Tours,” Plugge says.
After adding the Vuelta to his Tour de France successes, Vingegaard did not wait long before Visma started working through the next target. The answer became the Giro, where victory would move him into one of cycling’s most exclusive groups and alter the build-up to July.
Vingegaard can now head into the Tour de France with the full Grand Tour collection complete, rather than with that milestone still waiting. The pressure of facing Tadej Pogacar at the Tour has not disappeared, but the Dane arrives with a Giro victory banked and his place in cycling history already strengthened.
Plugge made clear that the plan demanded more than ambition alone. “We know there is huge competition, so we have to do everything right. It is three weeks. The process is always very important to me. Then we see the result later.”
Giro completed, Tour still waiting
The result came in Italy. Vingegaard controlled the Giro with the same precision that has defined much of his Grand Tour career, eventually sealing overall victory by more than five minutes over Gall.
For Visma, the success gave the post-Vuelta plan its first major payoff. The team chose a route through the Giro before returning to the Tour, rather than keeping the entire season pointed only towards July.
Barcelona now brings the next part of that plan. Another Tour de France, another direct collision with Pogacar, and another three-week test of Visma’s depth around a rider who has already won a Grand Tour in 2026.
The documentary shows how early that road was mapped out. Shortly after the Vuelta celebrations, Plugge and Verhaeren travelled to Denmark and sat down with Vingegaard to decide what should come next.
That conversation has already produced one historic Grand Tour victory. The next test is whether the same long-range planning can carry Visma through the Tour de France.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- lol yeah. this is a good onemij12-11-2026
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- he's too young. he's 23, so not really a fair call yet.mij12-11-2026
- and don't forget Pidcock's departure. maybe he will never win a GT, but he knows how to light up a race.mij12-11-2026
- Bingo...I was going to say a 12 year obsessed Pogi fan girlie ! Like she's chasing a teen boy band! All glossy eyed about tadej!frieders312-11-2026
- That stint in the Pink was so good. If memory serves he struggled with the champagne cuz he'd never been on the podium before. I feel like it gave him some self-belief, and yeah - then the move to Visma to be one of their lieutenants has really brought him to the best version of himself.wrsty12-11-2026
- So, you never really compared Paul Seixas with his main rival Isaac Del Toro why jump to Pogačar? They've (Paul & Isaac) raced together here and there, and they've both shared in wins and losses, I think they should be compared to each other, even with Vingegaard and Remco first before even touching Pogačar. From your writing it's like he's better than Vingegaard, Remco and Del Toro already that his main target is now Pogačar 🤔Sadick11-11-2026
- gee i hope its a minor injury. a great rider and ambassador for the sport. get well soon Lucinda.
Davide11-11-2026 - some of lidl-treks retention and recruiting has been puzzling in the mens and womens teams.Davide11-11-2026
- Yeah his ride at World's was unreal. Over 6 W/kg for over an hour and a half...he single handedly destroyed the break.DAS11-11-2026
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