Jonas Vingegaard

Jonas Vingegaard is a Danish cyclist riding for the Dutch team Jumbo-Visma. Vingegaard finished second in the 2021 Tour de France and claimed the overall victory in 2022 and 2023. He is known as one of the best stage racers in the world.

Vingegaard, who worked at a fish market in his younger years, joined Jumbo-Visma in 2019 from the Danish continental team ColoQuick. The Dane hadn't made much of an impression in the under-23 category, but his test results astounded the coaches at the Dutch team. Jumbo-Visma promptly signed him, a decision that would prove highly beneficial later on.

In his debut year with Jumbo-Visma, 2019, a young Vingegaard achieved his first victory for the supermarket-sponsored team: he won a stage in the Tour of Poland, a WorldTour-level race. He also finished second in the Tour of Denmark and ninth in the Tour of Germany, showcasing early signs of his potential as a stage racer.

The pandemic year of 2020 wasn't a standout season for the young Vingegaard, although he did compete in his first grand tour, the Vuelta a España. He impressed on the formidable climb of Angliru, assisting his teammate and eventual winner Primoz Roglic over the summit. Vingegaard himself finished 48th in his first grand tour.

Vingegaard's breakthrough came in 2021, starting with a stage win in the UAE Tour in February. In the following months, he won the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali and finished second in the Tour of the Basque Country, earning him a spot in the Tour de France as a support rider for Primoz Roglic, replacing Tom Dumoulin who had taken a sabbatical.

However, Roglic had an early exit from the Tour de France, leaving Jumbo-Visma suddenly leaderless. Vingegaard seized this opportunity, climbing into the top five through strong mountain performances and never relinquishing his position: while leader and eventual winner Tadej Pogacar seemed invincible, Vingegaard managed to shake his UAE-Team Emirates rival on Mont Ventoux. Eventually, at 24 years old, Vingegaard finished second in the Tour de France, an achievement that is quite sensational.

In 2022, Vingegaard was Jumbo-Visma's main leader alongside Roglic for the first time. He finished second in Tirreno-Adriatico and impressively supported Roglic in the mountains to secure the overall victory in the Critérium du Dauphiné. These performances marked him as one of the top favorites for the Tour de France, starting in his home country, Denmark.

Once again, Roglic withdrew from the race, which Vingegaard dominated in the queen stage to the Col du Granon. The Dane broke away from leader Pogacar by three minutes, taking the yellow jersey with a significant margin after also securing his first stage win in the Tour de France. He maintained this lead all the way to the finish for Jumbo-Visma, achieving the team's first Tour victory. A busy period of celebrations followed. Vingegaard concluded the year with stage wins and overall victory in the CRO Race and a somewhat anonymous performance in the Tour of Lombardy.

A year later, the Dane again focused everything on the Tour de France, though he had set goals for the spring season as well. In Paris-Nice, rival Tadej Pogacar proved stronger, but in the absence of the Slovenian, Vingegaard won the Tour of the Basque Country and the Critérium du Dauphiné. As the defending champion, he entered the Tour de France once more labeled as the 'top favorite'.

In that race, things went remarkably smoothly in the first week: as early as day five, Vingegaard, who had faced some criticism for his limited work for Wout van Aert in the opening days, managed to gain a minute on Pogacar. Just a day later, he took the yellow jersey, ultimately not relinquishing it all the way to Paris. Pogacar made several attempts, but ultimately faltered in the queen stage over the Col de la Loze.

Shortly after the Tour, team manager Richard Plugge announced that Vingegaard would also compete in the Vuelta, as Jumbo-Visma aimed to win the Giro, Tour and Vuelta in a single year. Together with Primoz Roglic, the Dane was positioned as a co-leader, but it was Sepp Kuss who ended up in the red leader's jersey. Vingegaard then played a pivotal role in securing the Vuelta victory for the super-domestique, being the first to openly speak about the merit of Kuss's leadership. Vingegaard himself finished second in the overall classification.