Wearing red in the race for pink: The heartwarming reason Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma teammates painted one fingernail red at the Giro d’Italia
Cycling
The 2026 Giro d’Italia is only just getting underway in Bulgaria, but one small detail inside the Team Visma | Lease a Bike lineup has already attracted widespread attention around the Grande Partenza in Nesebar. Jonas Vingegaard and several of his teammates have arrived at the start of the race with one fingernail painted bright red.
The gesture is not linked to fashion or team branding. Instead, it forms part of a campaign supporting Borns Vilkar, a Danish organisation that works to combat violence against children.
“It's a good cause. It's a cause for children's conditions in Denmark,” Vingegaard explained in a video shared by Visma before the Giro d’Italia start. “Every sixth child, so one out of six is getting abused, either mentally or physically by their parents. So we want to fight this. Every child needs to have good conditions at home. It's a very important case.”
Alongside Vingegaard, Visma riders Victor Campenaerts, Wilco Kelderman, Timo Kielich, Sepp Kuss, Bart Lemmen, Davide Piganzoli and Tim Rex are also wearing the same symbol at the Giro start.
Visma use Giro spotlight to support campaign
Borns Vilkar was founded in Denmark during the 1970s and has spent decades working on campaigns and support programmes focused on child welfare and protection. The red-painted fingernail campaign is designed to raise visibility around the issue of violence against children and encourage broader public awareness.
The gesture has quickly become one of the talking points around the Grande Partenza as cameras focus on the riders before and during the opening stage in Bulgaria.
🇮🇹 #GirodItalia
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) May 8, 2026
Raising awareness. ❤️🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/6cYGVf4Smc
The campaign also arrives during one of the biggest moments of Vingegaard’s season. The Dane is making his Giro d’Italia debut as the overwhelming favourite for the overall victory after already winning the Tour de France twice and the Vuelta a Espana once. Victory in Italy this month would move him one step closer to joining cycling’s most exclusive group of riders to have won all three Grand Tours.
Visma have arrived in Bulgaria with one of the strongest teams in the race around Vingegaard, including former Giro winner Sepp Kuss and experienced Grand Tour riders Kelderman and Campenaerts. But before the battle for pink has fully developed, the team have already used cycling’s biggest stage to shine a light on a cause far beyond the sport itself.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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