“The past two years I’ve just struggled” - Jonas Vingegaard lays bare long road back as early 2026 dominance shows peak form is close

Jonas Vingegaard’s commanding start to the 2026 season has raised a familiar question. Not whether he can win again, but whether he is finally moving back towards the level that defined him before his career-threatening crash at the Itzulia Basque Country in 2024.

The Dane has already delivered overall victory at Paris-Nice and followed it up with another controlled and authoritative performance at the Volta a Catalunya. Across both races, he has not simply won, but dictated the terms. Repeated attacks from rivals, particularly from Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe in Catalunya, failed to dislodge him, while his own accelerations on the decisive climbs proved race-winning.

Yet despite those results, Vingegaard himself is not presenting this as a return to his absolute peak. Speaking to TV2 after sealing the overall victory in Catalunya, he admitted: “The past two years I’ve just struggled.”

It is a blunt assessment of a period that, on paper, still included major victories and podium finishes, but internally has been shaped by a long process of recovery. “I feel like I’ve spent the last two years fighting to get back to that level – and in a way, to the Jonas I was before my crash,” he said. “I feel, without consciously knowing it, that it has had a bigger impact than I thought.”

The significance of those comments lies in what follows. For the first time since that crash, Vingegaard now feels he has reached that previous level again. “Now I’m back at that level and can maybe start to enjoy it a bit more.”

That sense of release has been visible in his racing. In Catalunya, he was not riding conservatively to defend a position. He was responding instantly to moves, choosing his moments and, when required, finishing the job himself. Even sustained pressure from multiple riders failed to expose any weakness.

But the most revealing line may be the one that looks forward rather than back. “I feel like I’m in good shape – not at my absolute best yet, but we made a plan with the team that I would progressively get better through the year. So I feel quite confident that I still have more in me.”

That is the detail that reframes his early-season dominance. These performances are not being presented as a peak. They are part of a build.

That progression carries clear implications for the months ahead. The Giro d’Italia looms as a new objective, while the Tour de France remains the ultimate reference point, where a renewed duel with Tadej Pogacar is expected.

If Vingegaard is already capable of controlling and winning races like Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya without yet reaching what he considers his best level, the trajectory becomes difficult to ignore.

For two years, the focus was on whether he could return. Now, by his own admission, that phase may be complete. The next step is not recovery, but improvement. And if his own assessment proves accurate, the level he has shown so far this season may only be the beginning.