Jonas Vingegaard: "I want to make sporting history in France"

Jonas Vingegaard will return to the Tour de France this year as the reigning, defending, two-time back-to-back Maillot Jaune winner. This year could be his toughest challenge yet though.

"The Tour de France is the biggest cycling race of the year. I am the reigning champion, and I will do everything to defend my title this summer. I want to make sporting history in France,” Vingegaard said recently at the Team Visma | Lease a Bike team presentation. "I have to ensure that I can stay at the top and fight for victory.”

"The entire route feels tailor-made for me. There will be a lot of climbing, especially in the third week," Vingegaard continues before referencing the added challengers this year as Remco Evenepoel makes his race debut and Vingegaard's former teammate, Primoz Roglic leads BORA - hansgrohe. "We will have to be on our guard, especially with the strong competition from the other teams in 2024.”

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"We all know Primoz is an incredibly strong rider. We need to have a good plan to beat him. We'll do what we always do: make a rock-solid plan beforehand and ensure we're perfectly prepared for the start in Florence," Vingegaard says of his plan to beat his former teammate.

The retirement of Nathan van Hooydonck and the choice for Wout van Aert to skip the Tour de France also bring extra challenges. "It's a significant loss," Vingegaard admits. "Wout is one of the best riders in the world, and Nathan was also an important helper. But we have a strong team, and I am convinced we will start with a good group of riders again this year.”