"Much better suited to him than the Tour de France" - Jonas Vingegaard handed compelling reason to defend Giro title in 2027
Cycling
Jonas Vingegaard could be tempted to defend his Giro d'Italia title in 2027 after the unveiling of a mountainous route that Eurosport commentator Jeroen Vanbelleghem believes suits the Dane considerably better than the Tour de France. With eight uphill finishes, including a climbing time trial, and a final week featuring the Mortirolo, Gavia and Monte Zoncolan, the Corsa Rosa offers plenty to attract the reigning champion.
Vingegaard dominated his Giro debut in 2026, winning five stages and finishing more than five minutes clear of Felix Gall to complete his collection of Grand Tour victories. His programme for next season remains undecided, with another attempt to defeat Tadej Pogacar at the Tour also firmly in contention.
"The climbers will be delighted with eight uphill finishes if you include the uphill time trial. There are only three at the Tour, so this is a fantastic race for climbers," Vanbelleghem told Eurosport following Tuesday's route presentation in Rome.
The Belgian commentator named Gall and Richard Carapaz among those likely to relish the course, but reserved particular praise for Vingegaard. "This is a fantastic Grand Tour for him, much better suited to him than the Tour de France in terms of the route," he said.
Mortirolo, Gavia and Zoncolan await as Tour favours time triallists
The 2027 Tour features 71 kilometres of individual time trialling across two relatively flat stages, alongside six mountain stages and three summit finishes. The Giro has 56.9 kilometres against the clock, including a 19.6-kilometre uphill test to Campo di Giove, and seven summit finishes on road stages.
The Giro's toughest climbing comes in the final week. Stage 16, from Sondrio to Aprica, features two ascents of the Mortirolo with the Passo di Gavia between them, packing 5,700 metres of elevation gain into 192 kilometres. Madonna di Campiglio follows two days later, before the penultimate stage finishes on Monte Zoncolan via the notoriously steep Ovaro ascent.
Vanbelleghem does have reservations about the double Mortirolo, fearing the difficulty could discourage attacks until the closing kilometres. "That stage would already have been difficult enough with just one ascent of the Mortirolo. The second one wasn't necessary," he argued. "It's too much of a good thing, and the riders will save their energy until the finale."
Following the Tour route presentation in October, Team Visma | Lease a Bike head of racing Marc Reef acknowledged that he would have preferred more summit finishes, although he also pointed to mountain stages that could suit Vingegaard and highlighted the team's time-trial preparation.
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Another Giro-Tour double on the cards?
Vingegaard attempted the Giro-Tour double for the first time in 2026, having already won the Tour in 2022 and 2023 and the Vuelta a Espana in 2025. His Giro victory made him the first Danish rider to win all three Grand Tours, but his subsequent Tour campaign ended with a fractured collarbone after a crash on stage 15.
Visma team manager Richard Plugge has since acknowledged that the crash prevented the team from fully assessing whether the Giro-Tour double had worked. Vingegaard never reached the decisive final week in France, leaving unanswered questions about his recovery from the Giro.
Plugge has not ruled out another attempt in 2027, with Vingegaard's programme still to be decided. The Giro concludes in Rome on 30 May, while the Tour begins in Edinburgh on 2 July, leaving just 33 days between the two races.
A successful title defence would make Vingegaard the first rider since Miguel Indurain in 1993 to win consecutive editions of the Giro. But with Pogacar waiting at the Tour, Visma must decide whether another three weeks in Italy is the best preparation for reclaiming yellow in France.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
- And the place he calls home is in Slovenia with his parents.RidesHills04-11-2026
- I think Tadej will be working on his new C7 TT position for the Tour de France :-)frieders304-11-2026
- Every great cyclist has at least two Giro/Tour doubles, and in modern cycling or what we call modern cycling, Miguel Indurain is the only guy to do it twice. I think Tadej should go for it and commit if he is putting up good numbers somewhere around January/February.awp04-11-2026
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