"This route is tailor-made for him" - Footage shows Jonas Vingegaard complaining about Tadej Pogacar and Tour de France route design
Cycling
Jonas Vingegaard did everything in his power to try and dethrone Tadej Pogacar in the 2026 Tour de France. The Dane's Tour came to a halt in an abrupt season-ending injury on Stage 15, but less than 24 hours earlier, he was lamenting the course design.
Over the past five years, the pair have been first and second at La Grand Boucle - tied together through multiple editions before Vingegaard's abandon this summer. However, the past three editions have been dominated by the Slovenian.
With Vingegaard plotting a different route to the Tour tailored to rival Pogacar, targeting longer climbs to blunt the UAE Team Emirates- XRG rider's punch and explosivity. However, that strategy didn't seem to pay off in the first two weeks of the Tour as Pogacar stretched out multiple gaps.
Large portions of that time seemed to come on plateaus and descents after making a small difference on climbs, or followed by a shallow climb after a more difficult previous ascent. That came to the boil when the Visma | Lease a Bike leader shipped 44 seconds on stage 14.
Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar
Vingegaard on Visma's Tour de France documentary
And in Visma's post-Tour documentary, featuring previously unseen footage within the team, Vingegaard is seen complaining about Pogacar's strengths being amplified by the course design in an apparent dig at organisers ASO.
"This route is tailor-made for him [Pogacar, Ed.]. There was nothing we could do today, he's too explosive," Vingegaard said in the documentary.
With his strategy centred around trying to wear down Pogacar's edge, Vingegaard found that the mountainous terrain came at sub-optimal parts of the route to edge out the Slovenian.
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He added: "Even if I try to make the whole thing a little less explosive, there are the descents and the flat sections – there's nothing I can do about that."
That sentiment was seemingly echoed by sports director Marc Reef, who also lamented the fact that climbs were followed by valleys or flat sections - leading to a favourable situation for Pogacar.
"Unfortunately, after the climbs there's always a flat section or a valley. That's where Jonas loses the most time to Pogacar," he said.
After Vingegaard's stage 15 advantage, Pogacar continued to dominate the race. On stage 19, he put in perhaps the most impressive climbing performance of his career as he beat Marco Pantani's Alpe d'Huez climbing record in a stage-winning attack.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- It doesnt take a genius to understand that Pogi is 1 level above and Pogi is younger that Jonas, so Jonas will not win under ordinary circumstances. Pogi has to crack hard for Jonas to win. It doesn't matter whether you defend Jonas or not , facts remain facts. Jonas himself says his numbers are better than 2022/2023, so Jonas is more or less optimized and we are just see the stochastic variation due to other factors. I think he will retire along with Pedersen in WC denmarkabstractengineer13-11-2026
- They only raced each other during the 2026 Tour, but here's a few metrics to look at. Stage 3 (Granollers to Les Angles): Pogačar won the stage, finishing 2 seconds ahead of Vingegaard (2nd). Del Toro finished 24 seconds behind Stage 6 (Pau to Gavarnie-Gedre / Col du Tourmalet): Pogačar won solo, Vingegaard finished 2nd (losing 2:38), and Del Toro finished 3rd (at +2:57, finishing 19 seconds behind Vingegaard). Here, Jonas Vingegaard outclimbed Isaac del Toro by 19 seconds on the mountain stageawp13-11-2026
- your clinging to the past. Jonas was dropped by del toro many times last year and jonas never managed a climbing numers del toro did in dauphine last year -entire year. Trend is also evident theres no discussion your living in the past, its beent he same with jonas for many years now and only developing, meanwhile del toro is rising and developing greatly. This is all obvious stuff and im not even a del toro fan. No point discussing numbers or this i suspect you dont watch much now but rather think its 2022 still cause this aint hard.miguel13-11-2026
- We can go through metrics if you like, Del Toro, who I do admire and support, is not on the same level as Jonas just yet. You will see that in early 2027 if they have any crossover races. I do hope they both race the Giro. You are correct though, Jonas is getting older and will not be able to hand on much longer. I see 2027 as a good year for him. Obviously behind Tadej though.awp13-11-2026
- What wins? Are you LA operating under a pseudonym?mij13-11-2026
- My point is this - Tadej, Remco, Seixas are all the outliers. Many riders don’t hit their peak until 28. It’s way too early to write him off. And the pogi slo guy that hates him - he’s also immature. Ayuso needs time.mij13-11-2026
- Then you need to use ur eyes or head if you have cause del toro already dropped jonas two times and beat him in tdf stages already this year.. Del toro climbed(dauphine) better numbers than jonas did all year too. So ur feelings and wishful thinking doesnt amtter del toro himself has already surpassed jonas infact just facts. Its also very evident for anyone objective that Jonas is declining alot, its just the truth and super obvious.miguel13-11-2026
- None of those victories stand, so there's that,wrsty13-11-2026
- No surprise there; it is British Sycling, yes, with an S
Rafionain-Glas12-11-2026 - I like Del Toro but he's not on the level of Jonas, by a large margin.awp12-11-2026
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