Jonas Vingegaard ponders tilt at Giro-Tour double in 2026

Jonas Vingegaard is still weighing up the prospect of riding both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in 2026, with a decision likely to be announced in December.

The Giro is the only Grand Tour missing from Vingegaard’s palmarès. The Dane has told L’Équipe that he is open to making his Giro debut in 2026, though he stressed that he would only ride the corsa rosa if it could be combined with the Tour.

“We haven’t made the plan with the team yet,” Vingegaard said. “I have my idea, my desires. The Tour de France is so big that it will definitely be part of the plan, and we’ll see if the Giro can be a part of it too.”

Vingegaard won the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, before adding the Vuelta a España in September. Only seven riders in history have won all three Grand Tours – Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome. 

Vingegaard’s contemporaries Tadej Pogacar, Nairo Quintana, Egan Bernal and Simon Yates have each won two of the three Grand Tours. Pogacar passed up on the chance to complete the full set in 2025 when he opted against riding the Vuelta.

“Winning all three Grand Tours is a dream for every rider, I think,” Vingegaard said. “It's something very important to me. We could say we’ll try for it next year and see what happens. We’ll see. I’d also be very happy to ride the Giro.”

Vingegaard ruled out the notion of skipping the Tour altogether, saying that he would continue to line up in July for as long as he felt he could challenge for the win. He has placed in the top two in each of his five participations, but he was never able to trouble Pogacar this past July.

“I think that for me, and perhaps also for Tadej, the Tour de France is so big that teams that have a contender for the win want to field him there,” Vingegaard told L’Équipe. “Even if we didn’t want to go, I think we would still have to go. And that doesn’t mean I don’t want to go…”

Vingegaard’s season ended with a subdued display at the European Championships in the Drôme-Ardêche, where he made his first appearance for the Danish national team since he was an under-23 rider. Despite that setback, he suggested that the Montreal Worlds would be a possibility next season, though only if he forgoes the Vuelta.

“For the Worlds, the best approach is definitely to do the GP de Québec and Montréal beforehand,” Vingegaard said. “We’ll start to talk about it in November with the team and my programme will be fixed in early to mid-December.”

Vingegaard’s 2025 campaign was blighted by concussion in the spring, and he was soundly beaten by Pogacar at both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France, but he held off João Almeida to win the Vuelta, claiming three stages along the way.

“It wasn’t the best season I’ve had, obviously. I think my 2023 season was better,” Vingegaard said when asked to assess his campaign. “But finishing second in the Tour de France and winning the Vuelta is not a bad season. My goal was to win the Tour, so from that point of view I didn’t fulfil my contract, but I still won the Vuelta. So I’d say 7 out of 10, something like that, maybe even 8.”