"Nobody apart from Pogacar can match that": Bruyneel analyzes Vingegaard's historic Paris-Nice dominance

Jonas Vingegaard is tearing the Paris-Nice record books to shreds. Looking for redemption after a tough race last year, the Danish star has blown the competition away with two stage wins and a massive overall lead. As the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider cruises toward a historic overall victory, pundits are trying to figure out exactly where Vingegaard stands against the other giants of the sport.

With just two stages remaining, Vingegaard holds a staggering 3:22 advantage over his nearest rival. He built this lead by accelerating away from Daniel Felipe Martínez in the final kilometer of stage 4, and then crossing the line with a two-minute lead the very next day.

While key rivals like João Almeida (did not start due to illness) and Juan Ayuso (crashed out) are missing, the history books show just how rare this performance is. If nothing changes, this will be only the third edition of Paris-Nice this century won by a minute or more, and the biggest winning gap since 1956. For context, in the last 25 years, nine editions were decided by fewer than 10 seconds.

Vingegaard is not the only rider on his team operating on another planet. Belgian rider Victor Campenaerts has become an incredible support rider for his leader, and Johan Bruyneel had huge praise for his efforts.

“He is on an unbelievable level. Yesterday, the work he did there and the pace he set... 50 percent of the climbers had already been dropped by the time he pulled off. He was also the last man for Jonas in the team time trial,” Bruyneel said in his podcast.

Even though Vingegaard looks completely untouchable in France right now, Bruyneel still believes there is one clear king when it comes to general classification riders. “Tadej Pogacar is the best, in pretty much everything. For me personally, the guys leading Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico are numbers two and three. That is the top three. In the Tour, Del Toro will probably have to work for Tadej, so he likely will not finish third. But he has the quality.”

Before he crashed and abandoned the race, Juan Ayuso was wearing the leader's jersey. Could the young Spaniard have threatened Vingegaard? Bruyneel does not think so. “We will never know, but with the level Jonas Vingegaard is showing right now, there is nobody apart from Pogacar who can match that. Ayuso, Pellizzari, Roglic, Del Toro... Jonas is still one step above those guys.”

For Vingegaard, dominating Paris-Nice is just the warm-up. His next massive goal is the Giro d'Italia, where he hopes to complete his career hat-trick of Grand Tour victories (having already won the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España), something few riders have achieved. “It is a huge goal for him. Pogacar has not done it yet.”

Vingegaard has suggested that racing the Giro will serve as perfect preparation for the Tour de France, claiming he is usually better in his second Grand Tour of the year. Bruyneel, however, is not completely convinced by this theory. “I do not know about that, but he did win the Vuelta last year. Even so, he really was not better there than he was in the Tour de France,” he concluded.