"To win the Tour, I have to be able to beat him" - Jonas Vingegaard is not looking for shortcuts to win Tour de France over Tadej Pogacar

Jonas Vingegaard has given an interview to RTVE before the Tour de France in which he makes it very clear who is the rival to beat after losing the 2024 edition to him:

"To win the Tour you have to be at the same level as Pogacar. I think Pogacar will arrive at the Tour in better shape than in previous years, and that forces me to surpass myself more than ever," Vingegaard said in an interview with RTVE.

"I think that I and the others who aspire to win the Tour de France must be like Tadej. I know he is one of the best riders in history, and to achieve that you have to give your best every day. When I train, I focus on giving my best and reaching the highest level. To win the Tour, I have to be able to beat him".

The Dane has done it before, and although he did not have the ideal spring (with a crash and a concussion suffered at Paris-Nice) he trained back to the level he had hoped for in time for this summer's main appointment. "I'm feeling good. I had a crash at Paris Nice that kept me out for almost two weeks. Since then I've been training for about a month and a half, and I feel like I've improved a lot in my recovery and fitness."

"This year there are many important stages and several very hard ones, both in the Pyrenees and in the Alps, as well as a demanding stage in the Massif Central. In the first week there could be crosswinds and uphill finishes. I think there won't be many opportunities to relax," he admits. "You can't pick one stage as the most decisive, neither the Col de la Loze nor La Plagne, because they will all be equally important."

Against the clock he won time on Tadej Pogacar at the Dauphiné, but he nevertheless doesn't look too forward to the flat effort in Caen on stage 5: "Honestly, I prefer the second time-trial, the time-trial climb, although it can also be complicated. The first time trial of 33 kilometers is fundamental and has forced me to train on the time-trial bike. The time-trial can make a big difference in the overall".

The Dane also criticized the addition of the Montmartre circuit on the final day of the race, stating that "it could be a very dangerous stage. In recent years there has been a lot of talk about safety in cycling, and adding Montmartre as a finish can increase the risk. We saw at the Olympics how complicated it was, with people on both sides of the street."

"Last year only 15 riders reached Montmartre together in the Olympic race, but this year there will be more than 100 riders, probably 115 or more, and after 21 days of racing they will be very tired. I think this will make the stage even more dangerous".

The Dane lastly admitted that his idol was Alberto Contador: "My idol and who is the best are two different things, but my idol when I was growing up was Alberto Contador, I loved his style of racing, he always attacked without fear of anything. When you talk about who is the best in history it's a complicated question, but of course Tadej is there".