Jonas Vingegaard produced record-breaking numbers as he won stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia to Carì in Switzerland, with a dominant victory in the maglia rosa confirming the Dane is on track to challenge Tadej Pogačar in the Tour de France in July.
"Maybe I'm even better than ever. Of course, cycling has also evolved," Vingegaard said after his fourth win in Carì.
This year is the first since his last Tour de France victory in 2023 that Vingegaard has gotten through the first part of the season without mishap.
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Vingegaard suffered terrible injuries in his 2024 Itzulia Basque Country crash and then suffered a nasty concussion at the 2025 Paris-Nice. He has been trying to return to his best ever since.
After rebuilding his form for the 2025 Tour de France, where he came second to Pogačar, a victory in the Vuelta a España lifted him to a new level. This spring included a slight setback after a minor training crash, but Vingegaard appears to be improving with every mountain victory at the Giro. He now leads nearest rival Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by 4:03.
"I think the Itzulia crash put me back way more than I initially thought it did. It took me more or less two years to just get back to the same level. When I crashed, I was on a really good upward curve, and my level was increasing a lot back then.
"I'm just happy that I'm now back to the same level or maybe even better than ever."
Being better than ever is all part of Vingegaard's and Visma-Lease a Bike's master plan for 2026.
Tadej Pogačar is chasing a fifth Tour de France victory but Visma hope that Vingegaard can peak for July and challenge the Slovenian, with a victory in the Giro d'Italia part of the path to perfection.
"We think we're on a good track for the Tour," Vingegaard said.
"I think I also somehow evolved or took a bit of a step here during the Giro. That was the whole plan, then to try to take another step after the Giro.
"The few times I've done the Tour, and then the Vuelta a España, my total power has been higher. My body weight has been a little bit higher as well but that's something I can avoid this time."
Vingegaard wanted to win at least one stage in the maglia rosa and had other reasons and calculated logic to win in Carì. The stage started in Bellinzona, the home of his agent and friend Mattia Galli, and the local crowds at the finish gave Vingeggard a huge cheer when he stood on the podium.
"There are two reasons: firstly, because I've stayed in this region. It's a beautiful place, and if I didn't live in Denmark, this is the place I would live. To take the win here is something special for me," Vingegaard explained.
"Another reason is that as a team we saw that it's a short stage. It costs some energy to go for it, but maybe it doesn't cost the same amount of energy as if you go for a longer stage. Also, if you choose the first one, and if you fail, then you still have some other options to go for."
Vingegaard has won all four mountain finishes of this year's Giro d'Italia: On Blockhaus, at Corno alle Scale, Pila and now Carì. There are other mountain finishes in Alleghe on stage 19 and then up to Piancavallo on stage 20.
Six victories would equal Tadej Pogačar's Giro victory haul of 2024 but Vingegaard is not interested in comparisons or records. Indeed, he would prefer to share the success around with his loyal Visma-Lease a Bike teammates. They again dominated the stage, setting Vingegaard up for victory.
"I'm going to go for all the stages this week, also in Rome…!" Vingegaard joked when asked about possibly going for seven stage wins to better Pogačar.
"No…. To be honest, I don't think too much about what happened in history, and now I have four stage wins.
"I would love to win one more stage but I would actually also be very happy to see my teammates David Piganzoli or Sepp Kuss ending up with a stage.
"I'd also like Davide to win the white jersey. I would be very happy about that. He's an extremely good teammate, he's a good guy, and he will do absolutely everything for me. Now he's in a very good position for the white jersey, so if I have to help him a little bit, it's something that would make me very proud."
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