Vingegaard Thinks He’s Better Than Ever

Jonas Vingegaard took a while to get the engine running at this Giro d’Italia, but it’s now red hot and delivering climbing performances that might give Tadej Pogačar a little extra pause for thought.

According to online data expert Na1chaca, Vingegaard won stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia with a 30-minute, 6.77w/kg climbing attack.

For the ~58kg featherweight, that’s around 395 watts … for half an hour.

Go try riding 395 watts for half a minute, we dare you.

Vingegaard’s wild ride Tuesday up the Swiss climb of Carì is a notable improvement from little more than one week ago.

Na1chaca estimated Vingegaard hit around 6.35w/kg for 37 minutes on stage 7 when the Dane under-delivered with an unconvincing victory on Blockhaus.

After winning all four of the race’s summit finishes so far, Vingegaard has all-but won this Giro d’Italia.

He rides into two transitional stages Wednesday and Thursday with a four-minute GC lead and a Visma-Lease a Bike team that looks impenetrable.

And worse still for the likes of Felix Gall and Thymen Arensman, the 29-year-old seems to be getting better as the race goes on.

Vingegaard may be ‘better than ever’ – better than Pogačar?

Vingegaard told reporters after his stage win Tuesday that he’s the best he’s been since his devastating crash in April 2024 – if not better.

“Maybe I’m even better than ever,” Vingegaard said from atop Carì. “But of course, cycling has evolved in that time.

“I think the Itzulia crash put me back more than I initially thought,” he continued. “It took me more or less two years to get back to the same level as before. When I crashed, I was on a really good upward curve. My level was increasing a lot back then.

“I’m just happy that I’m now back to the same level. Or maybe I’m even better than ever,” Vingegaard said.

It seems only disaster can deny Vingegaard victory at this Giro d’Italia.

And that means thoughts flip forward to the Tour de France and the inevitable comparisons to Pogačar.

Can this “best-ever” version of Vingegaard threaten Pogačar in the latest round of their French battle royale?

In terms of pure numbers, right now, Vingegaard is approaching a similar level to the super-Slovenian.

Pogačar famously went GOAT-tier at the 2024 Tour de France when he demolished the Plateau de Beille with a 7.0w/kg, 39-minute climbing attack.

He surpassed those thresholds, albeit over shorter durations, last summer when he won his fourth yellow jersey.

Vingegaard is closing in on those marks.

But of course, the grand départ is six weeks away.

Not that Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike will see that as a problem.

The Giro d’Italia is a Tour de France training camp

Vingegaard’s decision in winter to race the Giro d’Italia as some kind of “warm-up” for the Tour de France raised eyebrows.

After two years of disappointment in France, was he “quiet quitting” on the maillot jaune?

Far from it.

Vingegaard showed last summer that he could replicate his numbers from the Tour two months later when he won the Vuelta a España.

V-LAB premised Vingegaard’s audacious attempt on the Giro-Tour double on the entire notion that he gets better the more he races.

If Vingegaard and his performance gurus do right in the six weeks between Rome and the Tour’s “big start” in Barcelona, we could have a race on our hands in July.

“We think we’re on a good track for the Tour,” Vingegaard said Tuesday. “I think I also evolved or took a step forward here during the Giro. That was the whole plan, then to try to take another step after the Giro.

“The few times I’ve done the Tour and then the Vuelta, my total power has been higher. My bodyweight has been a little bit higher as well – but that’s something I can avoid this time,” he said.

Visma-Lease a Bike will already be planning a pizza-and-Prosecco party for when Vingegaard rides victorious into Rome on Sunday night.

Don’t be surprised if Vingegaard leaves his crusts.