"We have to be there even if we didn't want to go": Jonas Vingegaard confirms just how important is Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar wasn't really challenged by anyone for his last two Tour de France titles. Thus the Slovenian is already at 4 yellow jerseys, and the number could've been much higher if it wasn't for Jonas Vingegaard. In recent years, the Danish climber has been the only man to give fans a hope of exciting GC battle at Grande Boucle, although injuries stood in Vingegaard's way in recent years more than he would have wished for.

And once again in the Andorra Cycling Masters race which was more of an exhibition, Vingegaard finished behind his Slovenian rival. Following this new "race", Vingegaard was interviewed by L'Équipe.

Speaking to the French outlet, Vingegaard indirectly confirmed that the 2026 Tour de France will not be missing from his schedule for the following season. "There are no thoughts of skipping the Tour de France next year," he confirmed the rough plan that is yet to be fine-tuned.

At the same time, the Dane made it clear that he'll keep coming back for as long as there's a chance to win another edition of the race, supporting the ambition to grow the collection of two titles (2022 and 2023) that Vingegaard already owns. If winning is no longer an option, that is when the Visma | Lease a Bike star would consider other plans. "Maybe, if I can no longer fight for overall victory one day."

Grande Boucle is the biggest cycling event on the planet and so there is also a certain pressure for the two winners of last six editions to keep coming back for more. Even when the odds are not in the favor of either. After all, their teams are often built around the (sole) objective of winning the Tour de France.

"I think that for me, and maybe also for Tadej, the Tour de France is so big that the teams that have a candidate for victory want them to be there even if we didn't want to go."

However Vingegaard can also aspire for another attractive exploit to add to his palmares. After having won the 2025 Vuelta a Espana, it's only the Giro d'Italia missing for the Dane to join the very exclusive club of winners of all three Grand Tours. The last to have achieved this feat would be Chris Froome in 2018. As for Pogacar, the Slovenian is missing Vuelta a Espana in his collection, thus the two of them could each pick up one of the "smaller" Grand Tours along the way and then clash in a thrilling battle on French roads.

However whether Vingegaard goes to Italy in 2026 is something that is not more than an idea at the moment as the Dane confirms that plans for next year are merely in the making at the moment. "We have not yet established the plan with the team for the next year. As I said the Tour de France is so big that it will necessarily be part of this plan. We'll see if the Giro can also be part of it."