Vingegaard Couldn’t Deliver Pogačar-Size Power at the Giro – but He Won’t Be Worried

Jonas Vingegaard broke but didn’t bury the opposition Friday at the Giro d’Italia on the Blockhaus, and he didn’t deliver mind-bending watts, either.

But despite online chatter that “Jonas is washed,” the Dane won’t be listening.

He’s probably right where he wants to be.

Online data sleuth “Na1chaca” calculated that Vingegaard pushed 6.35w/kg for 37:17 when he set a new record time and took a statement victory Friday on the notorious Abruzzan climb.

Weighing in at ~58kg, that’s around 370w of mountain-climbing power.

For us on the couch, that’s crazy.

But as everyone on social media was shouting, they’re not numbers to worry Tadej Pogačar ahead of their match-up at the Tour de France.

In fact, Vingegaard’s power output was almost average for the modern WorldTour.

As a reminder, Pogačar blasted 7.0w/kg for 39 minutes when he uncorked possibly the greatest climbing performance in history on the Plateau de Beille at the 2024 Tour de France.

He dialed that up to 7.5w/kg for half the time one year later on Peyragudes.

Vingegaard pushed impressive power on Blockhaus, but it was far from what Pogačar has delivered countless times.

The four-time champion remains firmly at the top of the power ranking for the 2026 Tour de France.

Vingegaard didn’t need to finish the Giro on Blockhaus

But here’s the thing.

Vingegaard’s finish line Friday wasn’t the top of the blustery Blockhaus. It’s not two weeks down the road in Rome, either.

It’s 10 weeks away in Paris.

An “underwhelming” performance that still eliminated half the competition from the GC fight on Friday is part of a structured power progression to the July grand départ.

Yes, Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike would have hoped to do a lot more damage on Friday than claw only 13 seconds over a career-best ride from Felix Gall.

But the 29-year-old’s victory after the longest grand tour stage in five years was clinical, controlled, and efficient.

He looked far from flustered when he gave his winner’s interviews a few minutes after he successfully saw off the Austrian’s late chase. He gave the air of a man with a whole book of matches still to burn through the summer.

And besides, Vingegaard knows he can finish what he started on Blockhaus on Tuesday’s time trial.

Gall stands to lose 3-5 seconds per kilometer against Vingegaard against the clock on Tuesday – that’s 4 minutes of bad news on the marathon 42km test.

Vingegaard could all but end the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday with one decisive time trial effort. Then it’s eco-mode and Tour de France preparation all the way to Rome.

What did Vingegaard’s power numbers mean for the Tour de France?

The Blockhaus was an important first gauge of Tour de France form for Vingeaard.

It was by far the hardest climb so far on the 2026 WorldTour calendar, and the Dane’s longest racing effort since last September.

Would Visma-Lease a Bike have hoped to see more than 6.35w/kg?

Yes.

Who wouldn’t want to see mind-smashing power?

But history shows Vingegaard gets better the more he races. In fact, the science-backed Killer Bees are rationalizing his Giro-Tour double on the premise – and the numbers show they’ve got good reason to.

Vingegaard unleashed his best performance of the 2025 Tour de France in the third week of the race, on stage 16 to Ventoux. The Dane tested Pogačar all the way up the Géant de Provence with 55 minutes of 6.5w/kg resilience.

Nearly eight weeks and thousands of kilometers of racing later, Vingegaard was still going good.

He sealed victory at the Vuelta a España on the penultimate stage by climbing the Bola del Mundo at 6.2w/kg for 38 minutes.

Vingegaard’s power numbers were underwhelming Friday, but that’s fine.

They were warm-up watts good enough to beat an underpowered GC field.

For Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike, it’s the power numbers in late July that matter most.