Jonas Vingegaard: "The Tour de France was my biggest goal of the year, and unfortunately I didn't manage to win it"

Jonas Vingegaard has had a year of ups and downs with an injury in March ruining his spring, but with his first Vuelta a España victory. However the Tour de France was his main goal, and as was the case with the Criterium du Dauphiné, he had to settle for a distant second place behind Tadej Pogacar.

After Vingegaard's crash at Paris-Nice, he had to withdraw from the race and the Volta a Catalunya. The decision was then made to not race again in the spring. "No, we decided to wait: I could have raced in the Romandie or some other race, but we decided to take it easy and prepare for the Tour," he admitted in words to TuttoBiciWeb. "It wasn't a serious injury, although I was out for about a week. Unfortunately, I didn't do the Catalunya race, and that was a shame." It was the result of a concussion that had him off the bike for 10 days. But after beginning his Tour-specific preparation, he showed up at the Dauphiné sharp and in-form.

"Actually, when I started training, my goal was the Tour de France, or rather, the first race was the Dauphiné. So from there it was just a matter of starting to get back into shape: I started the altitude training camp, and then we did the Dauphiné and immediately after that the Tour de France." It is a formula that has worked in the past. He has executed it perfectly, but the level of Pogacar was simply unreachable on several days. Even for a Vingegaard that was at his very best level.

"Even better than at the Dauphiné. After the crash in 2024, I'm back in shape with more or less the same power numbers I had before the crash. We started the race very aggressively: people even complained that we were too aggressive. Looking back at the race, I think there were plenty of opportunities to see if we could gain some time". The aggressive tactics didn't lead to the desired results, but a psychologically and physically exhausted Pogacar in the third week was likely Visma's best chance at winning the Tour once again. But the World Champion did not flinch.

"And obviously, looking back, maybe we could have done something different, but it's always easy to be smart afterwards. Of course, we all believed in the plan we had and wanted to increase our aggression. The goal was really to put pressure on the others".

However, the time lost on Hautacam, the first mountain stage of the race, opened up a gap that was already of 3:31 minutes. The next day it increased in the Peyragudes mountain time trial. By that time, without a Granon or Loze-like day (2022 and 2023 Tours), it would be impossible to take back that much time on the Slovenian.

"I think at some point I had a few bad days that made a big difference in the race, but I still believed I could win and I still believed in myself; I thought we could make up some time. Unfortunately, we couldn't make up some time," he continued. "But it's also fair to say that the best rider of this year's Tour de France won the race. But that should also give us more motivation for next year."

However the race ended with a stage victory for Wout van Aert, ideal to raise the sprits before flying back home. "It was really nice to see Wout win again at the Tour. Both he and I had a bad crash at the same time, and I think we both struggled a bit, but then it was really nice to see him win on the Champs-Élysées, and I was super happy for him. Seeing Wout win is always nice, and he really deserved the win because he fought so hard for it. His success made me want to win the Vuelta".

Although he's had his successes, without a victory at the Tour de France, the Dane couldn't argue this would be his best year on the bike. "I think it was a good season. Well, it certainly wasn't my best, but it was still a good season. The Tour de France was my biggest goal of the year, and unfortunately I didn't manage to win it, but a second place finish is still a great result. I certainly want more, and winning the Vuelta a España was a really big goal for me, and I was happy with the result".

However in the bigger picture, Visma has obtained a lot of what it hoped for. "I think it was a fantastic year for the team. Only one year was better: 2023. For the team, winning the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in the same year is already a great achievement, and then also winning the women's Tour de France and finishing second in the men's race is definitely something unique" he argues.

Next year, most likely, he will make his debut at the Giro d'Italia where he will be the main favourite for the pink jersey and battle João Almeida. Vingegaard's calendar will be revealed in mid-January during Team Visma | Lease a Bike's second winter training camp in Spain.