"If he stays at the same level, he probably cannot beat Pogacar anymore" - Visma DS on Jonas Vingegaard, who should not make Giro-Tour double in 2025
CyclingFriday, 20 September 2024 at 11:02
Jonas Vingegaard has now since 2021 focused on the Tour de France fully. He has finished second twice and won the 2022 and 2023 editions... It had been rumoured that next year the Giro d'Italia could already by in the Dane's plan but that has been refused by one of the team's DS'.
"I don't know where that story comes from. At the moment I don't think it's realistic. But that's just my opinion," Frans Maassen said in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws. "I expect that we will see Jonas in the Tour, but we will only evaluate in October and then we will make new plans for next year. This is just my opinion, but I do not see a scenario for him in which he does not participate in the Tour.”
The routes of the Giro and the Tour will be presented in October right after the end of the 2024 road season and only after that will most riders start to form an idea of what they will be aiming for. Little is known about the route of both... But in all honesty a rider like Vingegaard who is an extremely talented climber and time-trialist would be a main favourite to win both - the degree of favouritism would depend much more on Tadej Pogacar's presence.
But Vingegaard is likely hunting down another Tour de France win and is unlikely to change what has over the past years been a winning formula. “Jonas does not like the idea of having to return to the Tour and then finish second. He wants to be the best and has to work very hard to improve," Maassen assures. "That will be a challenge, because if he stays at the same level, he probably cannot beat Pogacar anymore".
This year the Slovenian took another step towards evolving in the mountains and it is becoming difficult to challenge him in any race that features climbing. “He has to find a way to improve. He has grown a lot mentally in the past seasons. He has become a different rider this year. He has survived everything this season".
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- It is kind of funny. I thought he was the superior intellect??? I broke him down in less than thirty minutes. Technically, I'm not going to dox him, and Lompoc, Ca is too far away for me to pay him a visit, which I wouldn't do anyway. I've made a screenshot of every outrageous thing he's said in case he keeps going and then I'll let the popo pay him a visit at work. Internet tough guys make me laugh, LOL! Ok, let's get back to the Giro.awp17-05-2025
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These DS s are Nazis,
He got second after the crash , very few would have been competitive..
Jonas ignore these pricks lol
Pogacar problem are bad days where he loses tons of time. Jonas loses time steadily and slowly. Pogacar's ace is his attacking and sprinting. Jonas ace is his endurance and recovery. As we have seen multiple time Pogi will always outsprint Jonas and will be the favored rider to win. But one big mistake or bad day will leave Pogi with an insurmountable gap to Jonas. Personally i an pleased with the spectacle that this rivalry provides. for the last 2 decades other rivalrys never materialized like this.
There is no bad day my friend from now on
After 2023 people were saying Jonas was almost unbeatable in Grand Tours. Remember less than a year ago some folks were saying Tadej was doing Giro because he couldn’t beat Jonas at Tour.
This year Jonas with poor preparation due to injury was 6 minutes behind Tadej. In 2023 Tadej coming off injury was 7 minutes behind Jonas.
If they both have an injury free run in to the Tour next year it’s likely to be a fantastic battle.
Dope , dope and more dope . Where is Our Hero Lance Armstrong?
Mikey Out. Ooooooh Yeah!!!
Jonas is a few years older than Tadej and those two years do matter. After about 20 yrs old we all start to decline even though it's not really noticeable until our early thirties.
Certainly not true in general and specifically for endurance.
Most athletes peak from mid to late twenties except those where extreme flexibility and to a lesser extent co-ordination is required as in gymnastics.
It is very hard for teens to fully develop muscular strength, lungs and especially for endurance, to acquire a solid and large enough base to allow the volume of intensive training required to count among contemporary elites (often double the workload of 20-30 years ago).
After that consideration, there are also huge individual differences in physical maturing, some developing fast and others slow but in general, those that peak really early (teens) never peak as high as those that peak later, a look at any list of records or performances confirms this is almost universal.
This is not an argument, it's stated fact.
Yes, there are several ways that the body starts to decline after age 20, including:
Cognitive decline: Fluid intelligence, or the ability to think quickly and recall information, peaks around age 20 and then slowly declines. A study by researchers at Simon Fraser University found that cognitive speed declines by about 15% for every 15 years after age 24.
Skin changes: Skin becomes thinner and less elastic, and fine lines and wrinkles appear. Cell turnover slows down, making skin look dull and tired.
Hair and nail changes: Hair gets gray and some hairs stop growing, and nails grow more slowly.
Muscle and fat changes: There may be less lean muscle mass and more fat mass, even if you continue to exercise.
Sweat gland changes: Sweat glands produce less sweat.
Most bodily functions peak before age 30 and then gradually decline, but most functions remain adequate because organs have more functional capacity than the body needs.
A lot to look forward then!
Sorry, was under the impression we were discussing sports performance.
Fyi, my 31y old wife says I’m still improving, wanna know the secret?
Don’t stress about peaking young, build it up long and regularly and you can delay peaking into your 50s when all around you are in rapid decline ;-)
If Jonas has an uninjured preparation for the tour he should be stronger than this year
Even at 100%, Pogacar has evolved into an almost unbeatable rider. True, you have bike issues, illness and crashes. They have to be avoided to be sure he can be 100% also. If he
can do that...nobody is in the same league. He lost a few days ago because he made a mistake. One he likely will not make again. The mental aspect is the only one that nobody can know if someone is doing great or awful
Considering where he came from, he did pretty well this year, not sure what the DS is trying to imply. A fully fit Jonas is perfectly capable of challenging Tadej in a typical TdF (let’s see what they come up with for next year), even without improving.
And even a Pogaçar can have a bad year, we’ve seen it with all the greats, any good run will have interruptions, even without crashes.