Jonas Vingegaard has faced tough competition at Paris-Nice, but has ultimately had a successful yet short spring. He's won three stages and overall classification at both Gran Camino and Itzulia Basque Country, and he ends his racing program for the time being as he thinks ahead to the Tour de France.
"It's a very sensible program. The formula works for him and it sounds like a good plan," Michael Rasmussen told Ekstra Bladet. "Many days without racing is the right thing to do for him. When you ride a bike race, all other things being equal, there is a significantly greater risk of things going wrong, and especially in the one-day races, which are quite hectic. Pogačar is taking a risk in doing those one-day races."
Whilst he has been taking risks, Pogacar has also been taking big wins, with Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior, Vuelta a Andalucia and Paris-Nice titles earlier in the year, and a maiden Tour of Flanders triumph. He now seeks victories in the Ardennes classics and mainly Liège-Bastogne-Liège where he's won in 2021, but being a very different type of rider, Vingegaard skips his initial plan to race the Ardennes in order to spend more time at home with his family, before beginning his Tour de France preparation.
"Vingegaard will see how well he’s going from Itzulia Basque Country, but it would have been another race if Pogačar had been taking part. It's hard to see Jonas getting a minute on him and he probably wouldn't have got three wins. I still think Pogačar still has an advantage regarding the Tour, because what he did in the Tour of Flanders was exceptional," Rasmussen concluded. Vingegaard is set to return to racing at the Critérium du Dauphiné following an altitude camp.
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