As Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) takes a 48-second lead into the final week of the Vuelta a España and eyes a third career Grand Tour victory, he only has one regret from the first two weeks of the race – not winning up the iconic Alto de l'Angliru.
The Dane has won two stages, to Limone Piemonte and Valdezcaray, but couldn't help but mention the Asturian climb, where second place overall, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), was simply too strong and pipped him to the victory, when asked about his satisfaction with the opening two-thirds of the Vuelta.
"I'm super satisfied with how the Vuelta has gone so far, two stage wins, and I can't even remember how many days in the red jersey anymore, but that's something of course, I'm super happy about," said Vingegaard after rolling home safely on stage 15, 13:31 after a breakaway fought out the win in Monforte de Lemos.
"If there was one thing I would change, it's that I would have liked to win on the Angliru, but I can't change that now."
Obviously, a gap under a minute to Almeida with a whole lot of tough climbing and the stage 18 time trial in Vallodolid to come, is not what Vingegaard would prefer, but he doesn't seem stressed by his relatively narrow lead.
Of course, you would always like to have more than 48 seconds, but I'm just happy to be in the leader's jersey, to be honest," added Vingegaard in his press conference, also staying cautious to pick out one stage as the most important in week three.
"To have 48 seconds – that's something I earned and I am happy with it, we just have to see if we can keep the jersey til Madrid.
"We start with a very hard stage on Tuesday, then Wednesday is another uphill finish, the day after is the time trial, then there's Bola del Mundo on Saturday, so all the stages are super important."
Vingegaard's focus will immediately turn to a rest day on Monday and finding some relaxation after his fifth week of Grand Tour racing this season. He and his Visma teammates will go for a ride as they stay in Galicia, an area the Dane knows very well.
In 2023 and 2024, Vingegaard opened up his campaigns at O Gran Camiño, a four-day 2.1 stage race held in the autonomous region of Galicia in Spain's northwestern corner above Portugal.
"The rest day will be nice, I'm looking forward to it – I think my legs need it, and everyone else also needs it. We always go for a short ride, then from there just relax and stay as relaxed as possible," said Vingegaard of his rest day plans.
"I spoke with Grischa [Niermann, Head of Racing at Visma,] and he said we will see one of the climbs and see some of the route for Tuesday," where a punchy Galician stage will open up racing in the third week of the Vuelta, with four categorised climbs and 3,400m of elevation gain.
"I always enjoy racing in Galicia, of course, the weather was not so nice when I raced here, so I hope that Tuesday will be better. But I always like this region very much, especially as racing there was really nice. Hopefully, we can have even more good memories on Tuesday as well."
Vingegaard will be the favourite to come away with red when the Vuelta reaches Madrid in a week's time, but Almeida has been building, and the victory up Angliru will spur on the Portuguese rider to throw everything until the race is run and the Bola del Mundo on stage 20 is completed. After the Giro d'Italia in 2025, the cycling world looks set for another men's Grand Tour to come right down to the wire.
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