Vingegaard leaves trail of KOMs and records on road to Giro history

Jonas Vingegaard’s first Giro d’Italia is quickly becoming a record ride through Italy. The Visma rider has already won four stages, all on summit finishes, and each one has seen him put more distance between himself and the rest. Along the way, he has also taken down some of the fastest climbing times ever recorded on those ascents.

On Blockhaus, Vingegaard stopped the clock at 39:05 on the 13.7 kilometre climb at 8.4 percent, bettering Nairo Quintana’s 2017 mark of 39:54. On Corno alle Scale, a 5.1 kilometre climb at 8.8 percent, he reached the line in 14:14, improving on Gilberto Simoni’s 15:12 from 2004.

At Pila, victory brought him into the maglia rosa. At Carì, he tightened his grip on the race again. The 11.6 kilometre climb at 8 percent was completed in 30:50, almost a minute quicker than the previous KOM set by Adam Yates in 2024.

But there is more to his Italian campaign than KOMs. By taking the pink jersey, Vingegaard joined the small group of riders to have led all three Grand Tours. Earlier in the Giro, he had already completed another set by winning stages at the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia.

His win in pink added an even rarer distinction. Vingegaard became only the fifth rider to win a stage in the leader’s jersey in all three Grand Tours, after Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Freddy Maertens and Alberto Contador, although Contador’s 2011 Giro win was later stripped.

The biggest number, however, is still waiting. If Vingegaard carries pink to Rome, he will become only the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours. So far, only Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome have completed that set.

Although Vingegaard said before the race that he viewed the Grand Tour treble as something special, other records and milestones appear to leave him largely unmoved. After winning at Carì, he was asked whether he would like to match Tadej Pogačar’s six stage wins from the 2024 edition.

“No, I don’t think too much about what’s happened in history,” he said.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2026, the obvious question is whether Vingegaard’s long time rival Tadej Pogačar will join the same club. The Slovenian is chasing that piece of history from the other direction. He already has four Tour de France titles and added the Giro d’Italia in 2024, leaving only the Vuelta a España missing from his Grand Tour palmarès.

Whether he goes after it this year remains to be seen. A start in Spain has been discussed, and the route adds an obvious storyline, with the race beginning in Monaco, where Pogačar is based. UAE Team Emirates, however, have made it clear that no final call will be made until after the Tour de France.

Team manager Joxean Fernández Matxin recently said the Tour remains the priority, with any decision on the rest of Pogačar’s season depending on how he comes through July and how much fatigue has built up by then.