Jonas Vingegaard could not have scripted a better Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/p>\n
Five stage victories. Twenty-one days without a crisis. No crashes, no illnesses, and no rivals capable of pushing him into the red.<\/p>\n
The Dane rolled into Rome on Sunday as the dominant winner of the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia, adding the maglia rosa<\/em> to two Tour de France titles and a Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a crown.<\/p>\n He joined one of cycling\u2019s most elusive clubs, becoming just the eighth rider in history to complete the career grand tour sweep.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see my name on the Trofeo Senza Fine. It\u2019s something I\u2019ll remember for the rest of my life,\u201d Vingegaard said Sunday. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to be now one of the only eight riders who have won all three grand tours.\u201d<\/p>\n Visma-Lease a Bike made it look easy, but the Giro-Tour double was always a huge gamble. The first half of the bet is complete.<\/p>\n Now Vingegaard doubles down on July 4 at the 2026 Tour de France grand d\u00e9part<\/em> in Barcelona.<\/p>\n And it comes with a familiar obstacle in the form of Tadej Poga\u010dar, who\u2019s won the last two Tours de France and who\u2019s been on a vicious tear that shows no signs of stopping.<\/p>\n Not that it was easy, but Giro never quite caught fire the way many fans hoped.<\/p>\n There was no Poga\u010dar. No Jo\u00e3o Almeida. No true challenger capable of consistently pushing Vingegaard into the red.<\/p>\n Yet that should not diminish what he accomplished.<\/p>\n The Killer Bees raced in total control, with nary a sign of vulnerability. In the last 50 years, only two non-sprinters have won at least five stages in a single Giro: Poga\u010dar with six in 2024 and now Vingegaard with five in 2026.<\/p>\n The criticism that this Giro lacked drama says more about modern expectations than it does about Vingegaard\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n He isn\u2019t Poga\u010dar, and he isn\u2019t as naturally charismatic as Mathieu van der Poel or Remco Evenepoel.<\/p>\n What he does is win.<\/p>\n It\u2019s his own unique Vingo<\/em> style, efficiently, relentlessly, and methodically.<\/p>\n The same rider who cracked Poga\u010dar on the Col du Granon in 2022 and dominated the Tour in 2023 just delivered one of the most commanding Giro victories of the modern era.<\/p>\n \u201cI think in top sports, there is always some kind of doubt in yourself,\u201d Vingegaard said. \u201cThat\u2019s how it is in top sports. But with the shape I\u2019ve had here, I gained lots of confidence, and I feel like I\u2019ve gained shape in this race as well.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s perhaps the biggest takeaway from this Giro \u2014 this race proved that Vingegaard is back at his best.<\/p>\n For Visma-Lease a Bike, the victory carries significance beyond another trophy.<\/p>\n The team won Paris-Roubaix with Wout van Aert earlier this spring. Now the Dutch outfit added another grand tour to a collection that already stands among the greatest runs in the modern era with their 10th grand tour win since 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are writing history again,\u201d team boss Richard Plugge said. \u201cWith the first rider of this generation to win all three grand tours.<\/p>\n \u201cWe won Paris-Roubaix with Wout, and now the Giro with Jonas. He will be a contender again in the Tour, but first we need to let this sink in. I am very proud of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n Team brass dared to tear up the traditional Tour de France script and take on the Giro-Tour double, one of cycling\u2019s most demanding physical challenges.<\/p>\n Now with the pink jersey, the mood feels strikingly similar to 2023, when Visma swept all three grand tours with Vingegaard, Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d, and Sepp Kuss.<\/p>\n Then came the crash.<\/p>\n In April 2024 at the Itzulia Basque Country, Vingegaard suffered a collapsed lung, broken collarbone, and multiple broken ribs in a high-speed descent crash that not only raised questions about whether he would race again that season, but ever.<\/p>\n He fought his way back against the odds to finish second at the Tour that summer, but he never quite had the explosiveness needed to match a soaring Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n In 2025, Visma tried everything. They pressured Poga\u010dar repeatedly across the first half, but Vingegaard had nothing to answer when it counted in the mountains.<\/p>\n The Slovenian was simply stronger.<\/p>\n This time feels different. Or, perhaps more familiar, as if the old Vingegaard is back, but even better.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s very important that he has shown to be in good shape again,\u201d sports director Arthur van Dongen told Eurosport<\/em>. \u201cIt is now a matter of recovering well and then taking up the right training again. And we are very confident that this [Giro-Tour] combination can turn out very well towards the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar may have been at altitude preparing for July, but he was tracking every move his biggest rival made in Italy.<\/p>\n According to UAE Emirates-XRG sports director Marco Marcato, the Slovenian was paying attention across the Giro.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone watches each other and keeps track of what the others are doing,\u201d Marcato told Feltet<\/em>. \u201cIt is about looking at the overall level of the performance. He did everything perfectly. Vingegaard\u2019s Giro could give Tadej extra motivation to arrive at the Tour in the best possible shape.\u201d<\/p>\n This Giro was a success for Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike, now comes the hard part of trying to take down Poga\u010dar again.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar will be doubly motivated as he\u2019s racing to join the five-win club of yellow jersey winners.<\/p>\n To give Vingegaard a shot, Visma will bring one of its strongest support rosters in years for the 2026 Tour de France.<\/p>\n Americans Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson are back. Van Aert, Victor Campenaerts, and Eduardo Affini will protect his flanks on the flats. Ben Tulett and Bruno Armirail round out the squad.<\/p>\n The Dane leaves Italy healthier, stronger, and more confident than at any point since his devastating 2024 crash.<\/p>\n He\u2019s earned a place among cycling\u2019s immortals \u2014 something that not even Poga\u010dar has yet achieved \u2014 and proved that the controversial decision to race the Giro-Tour double may have been the smartest decision Visma made all winter.<\/p>\n He will head home before joining Visma\u2019s altitude camp in Tignes later this month.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll stay in Rome for a few days with my family to relax and enjoy the nice food, then I\u2019ll start working for the Tour de France,\u201d Vingegaard said Sunday. \u201cI\u2019ve believed in this project to do Giro-Tour since November and now I feel that my body can go for the next grand tours. I\u2019m not on my knees.\u201d<\/p>\n The Giro was the proving ground, but the 2026 Tour de France is the target.<\/p>\n In fact, it always was. The team believed that the best way to take on Poga\u010dar in July was to win the Giro in May.<\/p>\n In the Vingegaard vs. Poga\u010dar rivalry, the Slovenian has held the upper hand since 2024.<\/p>\n These near-perfect three weeks of racing across Italy just reminded everyone why that may be about to change.<\/p>\n This Giro was never really about winning the Giro. It was about proving Vingegaard is back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tour-de-france\/vingegaard-giro-tour-de-france-pogacar-2026\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Vingegaard-Giro-2026.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated June 1, 2026 05:40AM Jonas Vingegaard could not have scripted a better Giro d\u2019Italia. Five stage victories. Twenty-one days without a crisis. No crashes, no illnesses, and no rivals capable of pushing him into the red. The Dane rolled into Rome on Sunday as the dominant winner of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1966229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1966229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1966229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1966229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1966229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How Vingegaard swept the Giro without breaking a sweat<\/h2>\n
![\"Jonas](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-21-720x480.png?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Visma has its swagger back<\/h2>\n
![\"Jonas](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/unnamed-22-720x480.png?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Poga\u010dar was taking notes<\/h2>\n
\u2018I\u2019m not on my knees\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"Giro](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Giro-dItalia-2026-Stage-21-HarryTalbot-0777-2-720x501.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")