Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome. He joins the seven riders who have won all three three-week races Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), a Danish super-talent and former fisherman who, with perseverance and a lot of talent, has reached the very top of cycling.
The Dane won the Tour of France in 2022 and 2023, last year he added the Tour of Spain to his resume, and this year in convincing style, we never once doubted his readiness, won the Tour of Italy. On the last mountain stage with the finish at Piancavallo (14.5 km, 7.8%), he confirmed this incredible success today with a stage victory.
We didn’t see much action on the first crossing of the climb, as the Visma-Lease a Bike team set a strong pace all day. 10.6 kilometers before the end of the stage, Vingegaard attacked, who immediately got rid of all his rivals and drove off in pursuit of a new prestigious stage victory.
Felix Gall was the best of the rest. PHOTO: Luca Bettini/AFP
He reached the finish line with an advantage of 1:15 ahead of the chasing group in which they were Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), Jay Hindley (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe), Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal (both Netcompany Ineos). In the overall total, Vingegaard celebrated with an advantage of just under five and a half minutes ahead of Gallo. Hindley stepped onto the bottom step, adding a third to the win and second place on the pink ribbon.
“I hope tomorrow will be a sprint stage, but you never know. We will enjoy the day and celebrate this great victory, even though we have a long flight to Rome,” said Vingegaard after the stage.
Jonas Vingegaard, family man and great champion. PHOTO: Luca Bettini/AFP
Vingegaard’s achievement is something special mainly because he is competing in an era dominated by the best cyclist since Eddy Merckx, Tadej Pogačar. The Dane also beat the Slovenian twice in the biggest race in the world, while he had no serious competition at the Vuelta and the Giro – of course, this is no excuse, Jonas Vingegaard is simply two classes better than all the other competitors with the exception of Pogačar, but if he had appeared in a different era without the crazy Slovenian, his resume would now be concretely richer.
He will finish the race in the cyclamen shirt of the best sprinter Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), and in the summation of the best in terms of points on mountain goals, he is happy Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek). Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious) defended the white jersey for the best rider under 25 in style.
