"If he brings that type of form into the Vuelta a España, Jonas Vingegaard might not win" - Chris Horner questions Vingegaard’s dominance ahead of the Vuelta

With the 2025 Vuelta a España fast approaching, former professional cyclist and 2013 Vuelta winner Chris Horner shared his thoughts on the race and its biggest favorite, Jonas Vingegaard, in his Beyond the Coverage YouTube channel.

"No race is unpredictable if you go into it with a strong team", Horner started. "When we start looking at the teammates there for Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard starting the Vuelta a España, well we know they have some depth. We know Wilco Kelderman's here, we know Ben Tulett's riding here, we know Dylan Van Baarle's here, we know my man Victor Campenaerts, we know Axel Zingle's here, and we know Jorgenson, who finished the Tour de France, is the eighth rider here for Visma".

Despite being regarded as the clear favorite, Horner questioned whether Vingegaard’s 2025 performances have truly lived up to expectations. "He is 100%, no doubt about it, the hands-down favorite to win the 2025 Vuelta a España, but in the 2025, Jonas Vingegaard has not shown spectacular form."

The former pro noted that, despite getting good results, Vingegaard’s 2025 season has been marked by inconsistency and bad luck. "He has been good. Remember he won Algarve, but he lost on the summit climb. He won the individual time trial, won the general classification, went into Paris-Nice, again lost summit climbs to UAE Team Emirates, and then crashed out with a concussion issue".

After coming back from that nasty crash in June, Vingegaard was not able to come nowhere near close Pogacar's level. "Then we saw him back at Dauphiné where he told everyone he was seeing his best power numbers, yet still lost to Tadej Pogacar and still had Lipowitz close on his wheel. We fast forward into July where Vingegaard had the battle against Tadej Pogacar."

Second place at the Tour de France was still an impressive result, but Horner underlined that rivals besides Pogačar were able to stay with Vingegaard more often than in the past. "You cannot complain about coming second at the Tour de France to Tadej Pogacar, but if we're comparing his form, even though he said he was seeing his best numbers, I'll tell you there's no way he was seeing his best numbers because too much of the competition not named Tadej Pogacar was too close to the back wheel of Vingegaard throughout the mountain stages of the 25 Tour de France."

The American pointed directly to UAE Team Emirates, which comes to the Vuelta with João Almeida and Juan Ayuso as co-leaders, as the main contenders to challenge Vingegaard. "When we start the Vuelta a España. there could be some competition for Jonas because his form is not 100% what it has been when you compare it to 2024, 2023, and 2022 seasons. So that means when we look over UAE Team Emirates, when we're talking about Almeida, and when we're talking about Juan Ayuso, we know that there's a possibility if Vingegaard is not riding 100% at his best."

Horner, former winner of La Vuelta, suggested they could punish Vingegaard if he produces another off day like he did during the Tour’s first mountain stages. "We know if he comes down and he has off days like at the 2025 Tour de France at the individual time trial and the first mountain stage where he lost 2 minutes and 10 seconds to Tadej Pogacar, we know if he brings that type of form into the Vuelta a España that Jonas Vingegaard might not win."

For Horner, the tactics Visma should follow are very simple: "If you come in with the strongest team starting the Vuelta a España and Jonas Vingegaard's 100% on form, it's easy to avoid chaos. What do you do? You control the race every stage. Allow Jonas to drop everyone on the final mountain, and if he's the best, he will. If he doesn't, we're going to see a great battle here because we know Almeida has been riding good, and we know Juan Ayuso has also been riding good throughout the season" he concluded.