If the Danish could not celebrate his coronation, Sunday in Madrid because of the Propalestinian demonstrations, he remains the big winner of this 80th edition of the Tour of Spain, less than two months after having noticed his helplessness in front of Tadej Pogacar on the Tour de France.
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A triumph in Spanish land to forget the frustration of July. Dolphin of Tadej Pogacar for the second year in a row on the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard had come to the Vuelta with the costume of very big favorite in the absence of the Slovenian, left exhausted from the Grande loop. Dellented by its bulky rival, the Danish assumed its status from start to finish, winning three stages, including the penultimate at the top of Bola del Mundo, Saturday September 13.
On Sunday, he was not entitled to the traditional podium due to the final neutralization of the final stage. “It is a shame that such a moment of eternity was stolen from us. I am really disappointed. I was looking forward to celebrating this final victory with my team and the supporters. Everyone has the right to protest, but not in a way that influences or put our race in danger”he reacted after the race.
He who had defended the Propalentinian demonstrations during the race thus won his third Grand Tour, after his two Tours de France in a row in 2022 and 2023. At 28 years old, the native of Jutland could already win in Spain from his first participation in 2023. But the team instructions had decided to crowd his teammate Sepp Kuss. Vingegaard was satisfied with second place on a podium stamped 100% Visma, Primoz Roglic finishing third.
Two years have passed, the helplessness noted for two summers on the roads of France has also changed the situation. Sepp Kuss is still there, but this time, it was all for Vingegaard. While it was quickly understood that only Joao Almeida, a regular lieutenant of Tadej Pogacar who had abandoned the Tour, could shake him up, the Danes worked by sequences to build his success.
In his more conservative style than the fireworks fire, the leader of La Visma-Lease A Bike struck three times, to dig a gap gradually which has never exceeded the minute on the Portuguese, until Saturday. Meanwhile, he just managed, wedged in the wheel of an Almeida little inclined to changes in rhythm that the Danish fears so often from Pogacar.
If he did not seem as much above the others as expected, it should be remembered that he was the only one in the final top 10 to have finished the Tour de France less than two months ago. “These three weeks were difficult. I felt very hard the first week and I managed to win twice. Then I knew a more difficult phase, but fortunately, I felt better during the last weekend. My stage victory at Bola del Mundo brought me great satisfaction. It was a great way to top this Vuelta”reacted the winner on Sunday.
If Jonas Vingegaard did not seem as fulfilled far from the tumult of the Tour as a Tadej Pogacar on Paris-Roubaix, the Danish took the opportunity to garnish his record, he who zaps the classics and the Worlds every year, like those of Kigali on September 28. But like many others, and like Pogacar before him, it probably gave him ideas for the next Giro, as he had revealed a few days ago. “”If I could win hereI think it would be really great to run the Giro next year, to see if I can win the three. It would be an important goal for me. ”
To become the seventh runner, after Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Christopher Froome to have won the three Grand Tours. A circle which does not belong (yet?) Tadej pogacar.
