"The shape is what it should be" - Jonas Vingegaard happy with first climbing test of the season at Gran Camino

Jonas Vingegaard started his season at Gran Camiño as he did in 2023 and he's succeeded in the same way he did last season. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider took the win on stage 2 and is the new race leader.

“Wilco looked very strong today. But not just Wilco. The whole team did really well today. I'm glad I could pay that back on the final climb. To win here is very nice and this is for the team. The shape is what it should be, we have to be happy with that after today," Vingegaard told Wielerflits in a post-race interview. The Dane was the man to beat and the defending champion, he proved why he had this status.

Despite not having neither long or steep climbs, the Dane took advantage of the extensive work of Wilco Kelderman to launch an attack near the base of the final climb. An unusually explosive tactic for Vingegaard, which initially didn't look successful as Egan Bernal and Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda followed him. However he kept the pace up and launched another attack towards the summit of the climb which was too hard for his rivals, and went on to take a dominant solo win.

“It wasn't very nice, especially because it was so cold," he said of the weather. "But that's part of it and that applied to everyone. Bernal looked strong on the final climb. It's great that he's back at this high level, but I'm also happy that I could drop him.” Vingegaard starts stage 3 already with a hefty buffer over his rivals.