Jonas Vingegaard has revealed that he gave consideration to attempting the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in 2025, but he and his Visma-Lease a Bike team decided to put the challenge on the back burner – for now.
The two-time winner of the Tour de France failed to win a Grand Tour in 2024, his season heavily hamstrung after a horror crash at April’s Itzulia Basque Country. He recovered in time for the Tour, admirably winning a stage and finishing second, but he was unable to better his arch-rival Tadej Pogačar who claimed both the Giro and Tour, becoming the first man since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both races in the same calendar year.
Vingegaard’s priority in 2025 is regaining the yellow jersey, and though he and his team believe that he too could emulate Pogačar’s feat, they decided to focus on the Tour this coming season, with a probable third appearance in the Vuelta a España in the weeks after.
“We’ve been thinking about it and we had all the options on the table – we were actually talking about going to the Giro,” Vingegaard told press at his team’s annual media day in La Nucia, Spain.
“But pretty soon we realised that the main goal would always be the Tour de France. We were thinking about taking the Giro as a kind of preparation, but there are so many factors when you go to the Giro. How is the Giro [route]? How is the weather? How hard do you have to go every day? There are a lot of things you can’t control yourself.
“Then we realised that if you go on a training camp you can control every training [session] you do and that’s probably better.”
Vingegaard, who will ride the Volta ao Algarve, Paris-Nice and Volta Catalunya in a packed early season calendar, was asked whether it would be possible to maintain race-winning form at both the Giro and the Tour.
“Cycling is now different than what it was 10 years ago. Nutrition has helped us a lot to perform at a higher level,” he said. “10 years ago they could do one Grand Tour but then they’d be too fatigued to do a second. Now with better nutrition and better training it helps you a lot.”
The team’s lead sports director, Grischa Niermann, further explained the decision behind Vingegaard’s decision to sit the Giro out. “Our main goal is the Tour de France… and we believe that the approach we’ve had recently is the optimal preparation for the Tour de France,” he said.
“Pogačar showed he can win the Giro as preparation for the Tour, and that might also be the case for Jonas in the future, but for now we believe having Jonas at his absolute optimal best form at the Tour de France does not include doing the Giro before.”
With regards to the Tour, Vingegaard referred to the race as the “holy grail” and was adamant that he can get the better of Pogačar in their latest rematch later this year.
“I do feel like I have improved compared to last year and that I can get even better,” he said. “We also still believe I can improve as a cyclist, but it’s more about focusing on yourself, getting better every day and to see what the outcome will be.”
Previously, Vingegaard always had the upper hand over Pogačar in the high mountains, but that wasn’t the case in 2024.
“I still believe I can beat him, yes, and it might be at altitude,” Vingegaard said. “Of course, if you would have asked me two years ago, I’d have said that was my strength and where he was a bit less strong, but last year it seemed like he was strong in all aspects. I think we have to believe my strength is where we can make the difference.”
Vingegaard is set to be supported at the Tour by all star cast: Sepp Kuss, Matteo Jorgenson, new signings Simon Yates and Victor Campenaerts, Christophe Laporte and one of Wilco Kelderman or Steven Kruijswijk.
“I believe it’s a very strong team – it’s maybe even stronger than it ever has been before,” Vingegaard commented. “I believe we have a lot of firepower uphill but also on the flat parts.
“To be honest, I don’t believe even with a strong team last year I would have been able to make the difference. It would have been hard for me because of the preparation I had.
“But of course it is also important to try to step up as a team as well, and I think we are doing that. I need to take a step as well to be able to fight for a victory.”
