Vingegaard sends Pogacar warning from the Giro: 'We are stronger now'

The Visma | Lease a Bike leader is now only a few days away from his first Giro d’Italia title and from completing a Grand Tour treble. With four stage wins in Italy, his season tally has climbed to 10 victories, underlining what is becoming one of the strongest years of his career.

So is this the best Vingegaard we have seen?

“Yes and no,” he told MARCA. “I think I am at a very high level in this Giro and I hope I can still improve a little more. That is why we are here. To win the Giro, obviously, but also to improve before the Tour de France.”

That was the telling part. Vingegaard may be dressed in pink, but yellow is already casting its shadow. The Tour starts in Barcelona on 4 July, and until then there is no scheduled meeting with Pogačar, the rival who has shaped his career more than any other. Vingegaard knows what is waiting.

“I expect him to be at a very high level at the Tour,” he said. “He is a very tough rival and we have to do everything possible to try to beat him.”

Vingegaard spoke with the quiet conviction of a rider who believes Visma have moved forward. After two Tours in which Pogačar dictated the terms of the fight, the Dane feels the gap has narrowed and that the team around him is better equipped for what is coming.

“I think we are stronger,” he said. “We have taken a step forward. We have made very good progress.”

One name he singled out was Davide Piganzoli, the Italian climbing talent who has quickly earned Vingegaard’s trust.

“Davide is a very strong rider and I think he has surprised everyone,” Vingegaard said. “Personally, I already had high expectations for him. After Paris-Nice, I felt he was a very good cyclist. I also told the team that this guy was going to be very good.”

Inside the Pogačar camp, none of this has come as a shock. UAE Team Emirates-XRG sports manager Joxean Matxin Fernandez has followed Vingegaard’s Giro closely, and he sees a rider doing exactly what was expected of him.

“I honestly think it’s been what we thought, because he’s been the undisputed favourite from the start,” Matxin told Domestique. “I think this is the Vingegaard we expected. I don’t think he has surprised anyone.”

The debate around Vingegaard’s Giro has not only been about dominance, but about style. Some have argued that his victory lacks the spectacle Pogačar brought to Italy two years ago. Matxin sees it differently. To him, Vingegaard is not racing for entertainment, but with July in mind.

“You can interpret it partly that he has been dominating the Giro but also doing it in a slightly more conservative way,” Matxin said. “In other words, he’s looking to minimise his effort while maximising his performance. And he’s doing that openly, so he can get to the Tour without having done too much work or made too many sacrifices.”

That may be the real warning for Pogačar. Vingegaard has not been forced to empty himself in Italy. He has attacked when he needed to, controlled when he could and built a Giro winning position without appearing to go beyond his limits.

Matxin also pushed back against the idea that Vingegaard should race simply to satisfy outside criticism.

“You don’t have to race to please Nibali or anybody else,” he said. “I think Vingegaard gets a lot of results while minimising effort, and he does it very well.”

For Visma, that is exactly the point. The Giro is close to being won, but the bigger judgement will come in France. Vingegaard says he is close to his best again. Pogačar will be the one to test whether that is true.