Rarely have we seen Jonas Vingegaard this happy – and that promises a lot: ‘I’m at a very high level’

Vingegaard has already won the Tour de France twice and the Vuelta a España once in his career, and with two stage wins and the overall title at Paris-Nice, his career tally now stands at 45. Yet the joy with which he spoke to the press in Nice was disarming. After all, Visma | Lease a Bike stated this week for good reason: Vingegaard seems to be truly back in 2026.

The 29-year-old climber underscored this by going all out for the win in the final stage as well, as if he still has something to make up for, after falling behind by at least a year and a half following that hard crash in the Tour of the Basque Country in 2024. “Today was almost a perfect day. We had fun and rode at full throttle almost the entire day,” Vingegaard beamed in the flash interview.

Ideally, Vingegaard would have capped off Sunday with a third stage win, and he certainly gave it his all. However, Lenny Martinez, riding for Bahrain Victorious, was able to match his surges. “I would have loved to win the final stage, but Lenny was very strong and deserved the victory.”

Vingegaard had to settle for winning three jerseys, of which the yellow jersey was, of course, the most important. He had already finished third in Paris-Nice in 2023, and last year he had to withdraw after a crash. “Finally, I’m able to win Paris-Nice. It turned out to be a tough challenge, but I’m extremely happy to be here in the yellow jersey.”

“This means a lot to me,” Vingegaard agreed. “This is the race I hadn’t managed to win yet. Now I’ve done it, and that makes me very happy. It’s a good start to the year and something I’m very proud of. I’ve won it; next year I can hand it back to Matteo Jorgenson,” he joked, referring to teammate Jorgenson’s overall victories in Nice in 2024 and 2025.

When asked if his overall victory in Paris-Nice was a message to his longtime rival Tadej Pogacar, Vingegaard shook his head. ‘No, for me it’s mainly about racing. I want to win the races I compete in. This was my first of the year, and I’m very happy with how everything went this week. My form is very, very good right now. But I can get even better heading into the races to come.’

In the mixed zone, Vingegaard elaborated further on his form: ‘I’m at a very high level, better than I was at this point last year. I’m feeling good heading into the Tour of Catalonia and the two Grand Tours I’m doing. I didn’t expect such big gaps in the general classification, but I think the biggest gaps opened up during the rainy stages.’