Vingegaard ‘a racer like Pogacar’ as Visma strategist Broe pushes back on narrative
Jonas Vingegaard may be seen as one of the most calculating riders of his generation, but inside Team Visma | Lease a Bike, that image does not hold. According to Head of Strategy Patrick Broe, the idea that Vingegaard is a passive, numbers driven rider remains a widespread misunderstanding in modern cycling.
“The biggest misconception is that he's not a racer like Pogačar,” Broe said on De Rode Lantaarn podcast.
In an era defined by Tadej Pogačar’s aggressive and instinctive style, Vingegaard is often cast as the opposite. A rider defined by structure, pacing and control. Broe, however, describes a very different mindset.
“He wants to race. He wants to attack. He wants to show what he can do.”
That intent, he suggests, is not always visible from the outside. The perception of Team Visma | Lease a Bike as a tightly controlled system has reinforced the idea that Vingegaard operates within strict limits, but Broe rejects that characterisation.
“There’s this misconception that it’s like people with puppet strings and you’re not allowed to do anything without it being planned. That’s just not the case.”
Instead, Broe describes Vingegaard as a rider who looks for opportunities rather than simply following a script, even if race situations do not always allow him to act on them. His eagerness to return to racing after missing the UAE Tour earlier this season was a clear example of that mindset.
“He really wanted to do Paris-Nice… he wanted to do it to race because he's been training all winter,” Broe said, despite advising the Dane otherwise.
“I told him, ‘skip Paris-Nice. It’s too dangerous, you could crash. Just go train and prepare for the Giro.’”
That mindset is also what underpins Visma’s belief heading into the Tour, despite Tadej Pogačar holding the upper hand in recent races. Broe pointed to the numbers as a reason for confidence. “We know from data that he has the potential to climb at Pogačar’s level.”
The challenge is turning that into results over three weeks. Even with the data, there are too many variables to control once the race is underway.
Inside the team, the focus is on marginal gains rather than expecting a single breakthrough moment. But Broe stressed that the key ultimately lies with Vingegaard himself. “Most of all, he wants to make it happen.”
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