Jonas Vingegaard ‘on way back towards’ Tour de France-winning level after extending Giro d'Italia lead

The Visma-Lease a Bike star claimed his fourth stage win of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday to extend his lead in the general classification to more than four minutes, with just five stages to go.  

It has been a long road back for Vingegaard following his horror crash in the Itzulia Basque Country race in April 2024, in which he suffered a collapsed lung, broken collarbone and several broken ribs. 

Since then, Pogacar has asserted his dominance on the sport, notably with successive Tour de France triumphs and a victory at the Giro d’Italia in 2024.

But TNT Sports expert McEwan believes Vingegaard is returning to the kind of form that can compete with Pogacar, while insisting comparisons to the Slovenian are a ”privilege".

”I think we've seen arguably a better Jonas than this when he beat Tadej Pogacar to win the Tour de France twice,” McEwan said. ”But I do believe he's on his way back towards that.

”Coming back from that crash, it's not something you're completely healed from just because you start racing again; it's a long-term rebuild to get everything working like it should. Injuries are very complex."

He continued: ”It's also a massive privilege to be mentioned in the same breath and be compared to Tadej Pogacar.

”To be compared to him like that, no one else is compared to him like that, unless you talk one-day races and Mathieu van der Poel. In Grand Tour racing, there's almost nobody who compares but this guy does.”

In that same time period since Vingegaard’s crash, Pogacar has triumphed in eight of the 11 Monuments, including in five of the past six.

While the Dane was sidelined for 30 weeks following his serious incident, Pogacar has had very few injury setbacks to deal with. Going further back, a broken wrist in 2023 has been the only issue to keep the 27-year-old out for a sustained period. 

Rory Townsend, who is looking forward to seeing how the pair match up at the Tour, believes Pogacar’s favourable injury record has played a crucial role in his success.

The Irish rider told TNT Sports: ”[Vingegaard] does look in brilliant form. I feel bad for bringing it up; it's very hard to work out where he's at without his old rival to compare him to. The proof will be there at the Tour; we’ll be able to see what it's like. 

”Tadej is so dominant in our sport today and, when you actually look at his career arc up till now, he hasn't had loads of setbacks really. I think he broke his wrist at one point but he was still riding the whole way through.

”A key part of our sport is just consistency of training. As long as you're able to deliver week on week, month on month, the trajectory of your career continues to grow.

"I think that's why Tadej has got to where he is now. Of course, he's a phenomenal athlete, but on some level, there's a certain amount of luck that maybe Jonas and other guys along the way [haven’t had]. It's something to consider when having these conversations.”

The Giro continues on Wednesday with a 202km stage from Cassano d’Adda to Andalo.

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