Jonas Vingegaard is hanging with Tadej Pogačar and gaining time on almost everyone else despite inclement weather and punchy climbs.
Cor Vos
With wet, windy weather and punchy climbs, the first two stages of the 2025 Tour de France have been selective and action-packed in a way that would seem to favor Classics star Tadej Pogačar, but Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike have more than held their own against the UAE Team Emirates leader so far.
“I’ve never been third in a sprint like this, so obviously, for me, it’s quite a good result,” Vingegaard said after finishing behind stage winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Pogačar on stage 2. “I mean, it’s behind two of the best riders in this terrain.”
The first week of this Tour has few opportunities for Vingegaard to use the skillset he is best known for – grinding away at opponents on high-altitude climbs – so the team could be forgiven for being wary of the many ways in which Pogačar and UAE might test them. Thus far, however, Vingegaard has passed those tests and even taken time on almost every other GC rival in the Tour peloton. The Danish all-rounder could have rested on his laurels after making the key split on stage 1, but he proceeded to surprise with his performance on stage 2, even if Visma’s plan to back Van Aert for the stage win did not work out.
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