Watch out: Vingegaard is not at his best yet — “I’m sure there’s more in the tank”

It was an attractive ride over the Alt de Montjuïc in the Catalan capital. Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz put Vingegaard under pressure, but the Visma | Lease a Bike leader stayed composed under repeated attacks from the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe riders. Once it became clear that nobody was going to ride clear for good, Vingegaard could finally ease off a little.

He was never thinking about the stage win itself. “As I said this morning, my main focus was the general classification,” he explained in a flash interview. “The Red Bull guys did really well today. I was isolated and they tried to attack me one by one. Luckily, I was able to defend myself and my GC well, and from there it was more about thinking of my jersey than winning the stage.” That quote is translated from the Dutch article because the original English interview transcript was not available on the linked page.

Earlier in March, Vingegaard had already won Paris-Nice, taking two stage victories there as well. In Catalonia, it was almost a copy-paste repeat. “It’s been a nice week with the team, we’ve had a lot of fun. We won two stages and the overall, so that’s great. We’re very happy with that, and I am too. It’s been a great start to the season, and I hope I can continue that.”

The Volta a Catalunya was the Dane’s final preparation race ahead of the Giro d’Italia. He is set to start the first Grand Tour of the season for the first time and will head to Italy with full ambition for the maglia rosa. At the same time, the race also serves as an important step toward the Tour de France. A victory in Rome would mean Vingegaard had completed the set, with all three Grand Tours on his palmarès.

The form of the Visma | Lease a Bike leader already looks excellent, but according to Vingegaard there is no question of peaking too early. Italy, he suggested, should see an even better version of him. “I feel really good at the moment. My shape is good, but I’m not at my best yet. We made the plan to gradually get better throughout the year, so I’m sure there’s more in the tank.”