Not just Pogačar who is back from his crash: Jonas Vingegaard is also already preparing for 2027: 'Fire in his eyes'

Vingegaard finally had a clear path to the new season last winter. He spent much of his time at a training camp in Spain. He did take a fall there, and he also got sick, which forced him to skip the UAE Tour. But when he made his comeback at Paris-Nice, everything was back to normal.

There, the 29-year-old Dane won the overall classification by a massive margin and also took home two stage victories. The climber also dominated the Tour of Catalonia, making him the clear favorite heading into his first Giro d’Italia. After winning no fewer than five stages, he claimed the pink jersey, with a lead of more than five minutes over second-place finisher Felix Gall.

Vingegaard thus completed the hat trick, having already won the Tour de France twice and finished first in last year’s Vuelta a España. But the Giro was primarily extra training in preparation for the Tour de France. According to the tests, the Dane would always perform better in his second Grand Tour of the year, so the battle with Pogačar was finally set to really heat up again.

But it didn’t come to that. After Visma | Lease a Bike won the team time trial, Vingegaard was left minutes behind by the Slovenian rider in Stage 6. Pogačar only extended his lead in the subsequent stages. But the Dutch team had set its sights on the final week. Hope was still alive, but it faded when Vingegaard took a hard fall in stage fifteen.

Just as they were about to take control, the team leader broke his collarbone. It was a major disappointment. It also immediately meant the end of his season, as he couldn’t start in the Vuelta and had to sit out the World Cycling Championships as well. He has since recovered. And with the strong form he’s shown this year and the crash still fresh in his mind, former road cyclist and sports director at Soudal Quick-Step Brian Holm says he’s already fully focused on 2027.

The Dane said on the Café Eddy Podcast that Vingegaard is more determined than ever to get revenge.

“I’ve heard from reliable sources that he has fire in his eyes,” Holm says. “He’s already training for next year. He’s so professional that when he’s training in Mallorca, he doesn’t even plan on flying home.” Vingegaard had indeed been spotted in Mallorca earlier this autumn.

It is not yet known when we will see Vingegaard back in action. It is also uncertain whether the team will once again use the Giro d’Italia as a stepping stone toward the Tour de France. It has to fit into the preparation schedule, and that turned out not to be the case this year. “It’s clear that it’s difficult to ride the Giro and then suddenly become explosive,” Vingegaard (who fell short on the explosive climbs in the Tour) said afterward.