“I’m already saying too much," says mysterious Vingegaard with a smile, as he looks to continue his other side in 2025

Jonas Vingegaard learned a lot from 2026, he indicated in a podcast by Visma | Lease a Bike. The 29-year-old Dane finished second in the Tour de France and won the Vuelta a España, but the way he raced in particular did open some eyes. More of that in 2026? Vingegaard held his jaws to it with a broad smile.

"Of course it wasn't my best season ever, but it was a good season," he analyzed, looking back at 2025. "I started with a win in the Algarve, before crashing in Paris-Nice. From there we built up to the Tour de France, the biggest goal of the year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to win, but second place is still a big result.'

That he rode only the Dauphiné after Paris-Nice was decided in advance. He missed the Tour of Catalonia due to the after-effects of his fall in Paris-Nice, before putting the focus entirely on Tour preparation. "As a result, it looked like I had suffered a major injury, but I was only unable to train for a week and then I started again."

By his own admission, Vingegaard had regained the level he had before his crash (at the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country) at the 2025 Tour. However, because Pogacar did even better than a year earlier, Vingegaard did not come close to winning the overall. "It took a long time to come back, but it was also a violent crash and it threw me back further than I expected."

Visma | Lease a Bike nevertheless began the Tour full of ambition and flew full steam into the first ten days. "Looking back on it now, maybe we could have done things differently. But that's always easy to talk about in hindsight. We believed in the plan we had and we wanted to race aggressively, to put the pressure on in the first week. I liked it because it was different from what we were doing before."

"It was more by feel," was how Vingegaard described the Tour tactics. And although a more conservative racing style was outlined toward the Vuelta, we also saw a Vingegaard taking his chances in Spain. "We only wanted to go for stages towards the end, but if the opportunity arose, we would take it. On Day 2, that opportunity already came, as it did on Day 9."

"On the days you feel good, you should take advantage of it," it sounded. And according to Vingegaard, it was a little different. "Switching from a defensive mindset to an offensive mindset is more difficult than the other way around. Sometimes you simply have to follow when attacking is out of the question. But if you suddenly have to attack, it can be more difficult."

"You plan your tactics before the race and we have been criticized for that at times in recent years. That we would be robots with a plan, but we have shown that we follow our instincts. If you feel good, you go for the win and that's how I like to race," Vingegaard said. "I've known for some time that I follow my instinct. Sometimes you feel better than expected, or the other person shows a weak moment. Then you always have to take advantage of that."

The Danish leader speaks of "a super good year" for Visma, which in addition to the Vuelta also won the Giro d'Italia with Simon Yates. Great things undoubtedly await again in 2026, although Vingegaard did not want to say anything about that. When asked what he wishes for himself in the new year, he smiled tellingly: "If I answer that, I'm actually saying too much already."

A double Giro d'Italia-Tour de France is being mentioned in the corridors. We'll wait and see...