“If there was no Tadej Pogacar we’d talk about Jonas Vingegaard as the greatest stage race rider in history” - Visma leader still in rival’s shadow say experts

Jonas Vingegaard is closing in on the Grand Tour Triple Crown at the 2026 Giro d’Italia, but TNT Sports’ experts believe the achievement will still land inside the shadow of his defining rivalry with Tadej Pogacar.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader has already won the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, and now stands on the brink of adding the Giro d’Italia to that list. Only a select group of riders have won all three Grand Tours, placing Vingegaard within reach of one of cycling’s most exclusive records.

That debate was picked up on TNT Sports by Robbie McEwen, a former multiple Grand Tour stage winner, and Matt Stephens, the former professional rider who now works as one of the broadcaster’s lead analysts. For McEwen, the scale of Vingegaard’s record is still framed by the rider missing from this Giro.

“If there was no Tadej Pogacar we’d be talking about Jonas Vingegaard as potentially the greatest stage race rider in history,” McEwen said on TNT Sports. “But there is a Tadej.”

Vingegaard’s Giro campaign has strengthened a career record that already places him among the finest Grand Tour riders of his era. Four stage wins, the maglia rosa and Visma’s control of the race have left the Dane close to completing the full set before Pogacar has managed the same.

Pogacar has already won the Giro and Tour de France, but the Vuelta a Espana remains absent from his palmares. Vingegaard’s likely Giro victory would therefore give him one Grand Tour distinction over the Slovenian before they meet again at the Tour.

Stephens believes that timing could carry into July. “I think for Jonas to potentially do it before Tadej, ahead of the Tour de France, I don’t think we can understate the psychological importance that’s going to have,” Stephens said on The Breakaway. “He’s been in the shadow for the past couple of years, we know. He’s had victories in stage races, but when he’s come head to head with Tadej, he hasn’t been up there.”

The Dane can win pink, join a historic Grand Tour club and still have the conversation drift almost immediately towards yellow.

Vingegaard has beaten Pogacar before, winning the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, but the recent narrative has belonged more clearly to the Slovenian. Pogacar’s dominance across the last two seasons has left even Vingegaard’s biggest achievements judged against a rider who continues to set the sport’s highest bar.

Stephens does not view a Giro Triple Crown completion as a direct blow to Pogacar, but as a shift in Vingegaard’s own position before the Tour. “He’s beat him in the past, but this is a reminder of his ability,” Stephens said. “Doing that before Tadej - it’s not exactly a psychological blow, but it’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ve done it now’, and it takes the pressure off a little bit.”

McEwen also sees value in Vingegaard reaching the landmark first. “It is a really big deal,” he said. “Jonas has beaten him to the punch on this one, which is something nice for him.”

The comparison is unavoidable because both riders are chasing history at the same time. Pogacar’s all-round dominance has made him the sport’s central reference point. Vingegaard’s record remains narrower, but within Grand Tour racing it is already extraordinary.

The Giro has shown Vingegaard in full control of a three-week race again. He started as favourite, took command in the mountains and has repeatedly looked a level above the rest of the GC field.

McEwen suggested there may also be extra motivation behind the final week. After one of Vingegaard’s stage wins, he was reminded that Pogacar had won six stages when he last raced the Giro. The reaction, in McEwen’s view, was subtle but revealing.

“Think back a few days ago when he was sitting there after winning his third stage and the interviewer said that last time Tadej came here he won six,” McEwen said. “And you just saw something in Jonas’ face change, very slightly - didn’t want to give it away. Maybe there’s something more for Jonas to chase, not only winning this Giro, but he might have that comment from the interviewer in his mind.”

Vingegaard’s Giro is almost complete. The Triple Crown would put him beside some of the greatest Grand Tour riders in cycling history. Yet with Pogacar waiting at the Tour, the achievement also becomes part of the next chapter in a rivalry that continues to define both men.