Jonas Vingegaard has confirmed that he will not only be aiming for the Tour de France in 2025 but will also be taking part in the Vuelta a España this season.
In an interview released by Visma-Lease a Bike on the team media day in Spain, Vingegaard made it clear that he would not be taking part in the Giro d'Italia, as had been repeatedly rumoured. His teammate Wout van Aert has already stated that he will be racing in Italy next May and will co-lead the team there with Simon Yates.
After aiming for a third victory Tour de France, Vingegaard will then head to Spain to try and go one better in the Vuelta than his runner's up spot in 2023 behind Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Sepp Kuss.
Should Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) opt to race the Vuelta as well, Vingegaard's decision increases the exciting prospect of cycling's two most successful GC stars of this decade battling it out in two Grand Tours in a single year for the first time in their careers.
The Danish star also revealed the top races from the early part of his season, starting with a fresh attempt to win Paris-Nice and a debut at the Volta a Catalunya. In all these events, he said, he is determined to go for the win.
"In 2025, my biggest goal will of course be the Tour de France, to try to win it for the third time. Then in the spring, I will do Paris-Nice, Catalunya and then also later on the Vuelta a España," Vingegaard said in the team interview. He later revealed his season debut will be the Volta ao Algarve, with his key warm-up race for the Tour de France at the Critérium du Dauphiné. The World Championships is also provisionally on his schedule.
"I'm really motivated for all of these races. I've not won Paris-Nice yet, I was there two years ago but couldn't win. But of course, I'm eager to come back and go for the victory.
"Also in Catalunya, I want to go for the victory. I've never done it before but I'm very happy to be there at the start line. And the Vuelta – it's a special race, one of the biggest in the world. I've always been watching it on TV and I would love to win it as well."
Vingegaard's top priority, though, will logically be the Tour de France, where he'll be seeking to repeat his victories of 2023 and 2022. In the process, he must beat 2024 outright favourite Tadej Pogačar.
"To come back to the Tour de France - for me it's the race that means the most. It's the biggest race of the year, there is something special about it," Vingegaard said.
"That's what I most look forward to - and also to try to go for the win again and be there at the start, with the best possible preparation and in the best possible shape."
Vingegaard will not therefore be taking part in the Itzulia, the race which saw him crash badly on stage 4 and almost abandon his career as a a result of his terrible injuries.
In his only previous participation in Paris-Nice in 2023, he finished third overall behind Pogačar and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). However, last year he had a notable triumph in Tirreno-Adriatico, which runs parallel in March with the French week-long stage race, which bodes well for his chances this spring.
"To be honest, 2024 was a bit of a crazy year, it started super-well with victories in Gran Camino and in Tirreno, I was stronger than ever been before," he recollected.
"Then of course I had the nasty crash in Basque and it was a big setback and it took me a long time to get back. To be honest, I think it was quite a lot worse than people know," he argued.
"So that I was actually able to make it to the Tour was a victory in itself. I'm very proud of doing that, and I was very happy I was there."
"Everything after that was a bonus, so to be second in the Tour and to win a stage was really incredible for me, I'm really happy with that."
"I also went on to win the Tour de Pologne later on. It's also a great race and that's something [winning it] that I should have done five years ago" - a reference to the 2019 race when Vingegaard claimed a stage in Pologne, his first pro victory, but was knocked out of the leader's spot by Pavel Sivakov on the last day.
However, the main takeaways from 2024 for Vingegaard were more about knowing that he has the physical capacity and character to fight back after massive setbacks like his terrible accident in April.
"I learned that with less good preparation, I can still perform well," Vinegegaard said.
"I also learned if I hadn't crashed, I would have had better preparation [for the Tour] and hopefully also I would have been better [in terms of results]."
"You can't say anything about the [definitive] outcome, but at least I know for sure that I can do better than last year."
