'The best of' - Adam Blythe believes Jonas Vingegaard has excelled out of Tadej Pogacar's shadow at La Vuelta
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2024/09/16/image-70e52184-1d6b-4d9c-a172-9a13d4a3a1d9-68-310-310.jpeg)
Updated 13/09/2025 at 23:26 GMT+1
React to this story
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) all but clinched GC victory at La Vuelta with an 11-second victory at Bola del Mundo on Stage 20, and TNT Sports' Adam Blythe believes the Dane has showed his best riding in Spain out of the shadow of rival Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The pair have shared the Tour de France title five times since 2021.
‘It really affected me’ - Vingegaard overcomes illness to win Stage 20 of La Vuelta
Video credit: TNT Sports
The 2025 La Vuelta has seen "the best of" Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) according to TNT Sports expert Adam Blythe, who praised the Dane for excelling out of the shadow of Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
After successive defeats at the Tour de France to Pogacar, Vingegaard all but clinched the red jersey at La Vuelta with victory on Stage 20, attacking from a lead group that included his closest rival Joao Almeida (UAE) and Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling).
That means while Pogacar gears up to race the Laurentian Classics in Canada, Vingegaard enters the final-day procession in Madrid with an overall lead of 1’16" and is set to win his first Grand Tour since breaking several ribs, his collarbone and suffering a collapsed lung in a crash at the 2024 Itzulia Basque Country.
"It matters to him massively and I think for the team it matters," Blythe, who finished the 2017 La Vuelta, said.
"This is ultimately his job, this is what he needs to be doing but to be doing it at the level after the Tour de France, because there is so much pressure around the Tour de France and there is only one man that can really match Tadej Pogacar and it was Jonas.
"So you imagine the pressure on your shoulders for that. When are you going to attack him, when are you going to beat him? And it is this race where he has come with that little bit of freedom to be able to show what Jonas Vingegaard can do without the pressure of Tadej being there.
"And I think he has excelled, obviously he has but for me this is just the best of Jonas riding his bike, but also enjoying his bike without that noise around it and for him, he will just be comfortable now, 'this is what I can do and finally I am on the top step of a podium again'.
"What he will have been going through, what he has been through, we do not know, we cannot explain it but they will probably have a few beers tonight to celebrate."
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/09/13/image-7a700931-e4eb-4bf0-8997-99b0de988191-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
Highlights: Vingegaard takes Stage 20 to close in on La Vuelta glory
Video credit: TNT Sports
Vingegaard: Third stage win worth the wait
Having won two stages earlier in the race, Vingegaard wanted to complete his hat-trick in Bilbao and then on the iconic slopes of L’Angliru, but was denied by protests and Almeida.
However, having looked like he was flagging and potentially feeling the effects of only having a month’s break from the end of the Tour de France to the start of La Vuelta, Vingegaard showed his champion’s credentials when he attacked Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Almeida and Pidcock in the final kilometre of Bola del Mundo to win by 11 seconds.
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2025/09/13/image-9da7441f-0571-4410-912d-ef2f8bdf187c-85-2560-1440.jpeg)
Vingegaard powers away to take victory on Stage 20 to effectively seal La Vuelta glory
Video credit: TNT Sports
"It was [worth waiting for], I wanted to win in Bilbao and I wanted to win in Angliru but Bola del Mundo is also a very special one," Vingegaard said.
"To be honest I am starting to feel a bit better today, I felt better than the previous mountaintop finishes so super happy with how things went for me today and how the team has done in the last three weeks. The team has been so amazing and I could not have done it without them.
"Actually I was feeling, I would not say comfortable in the pace that Joao and then Jai was doing but at least I felt like I was not on my limit yet so I felt like I had a good chance of winning the stage.
"At one point I just decided ‘now I am going to try’, immediately I got a gap and the last few 100m was incredibly hard. I almost went into the barrier so a small mistake from my side."
---
---
Watch and stream the remainder of the cycling season, including the climax of La Vuelta, on TNT Sports and discovery+
Related Topics
Advertisement
Advertisement