21 things you didn't know about Jonas Vingegaard

Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, and and was thought to be the main favourite for the 2024 edition, but his involvement in a horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country in April has put that into doubt.

The Danish Visma-Lease a Bike rider will hope to continue his rivalry with Tadej Pogačar when the Tour gets underway in Florence at the end of the month, but if not, will likely head to the Vuelta a España.

Until the Itzulia crash, Vingegaard looked in flying form, taking three stages and the overall at O Gran Camiño in February, before winning two stages and the general classification at Tirreno-Adriatico.

Here are 21 things you didn't know about the reigning Tour champion. 

1. Vingegaard played football at an early age, but never took to the sport in the same way he would do with cycling.

2. His first experience of a bike race came in 2007 when the first stage of the Danmark Rundt began in Thisted, the biggest town in the region he grew up in.

3. After being inspired by what he saw, Vingegaard joined his first club, Thy Cykle Ring, and started to begin to compete for the first time.

4. After five years with the Thy Cykle Ring, Vingegaard spent time with Aalborg Cykle Ring before joining Odder Cykel Klub in 2014, his last year as a junior rider.

5. He made the podium for Odder for the first time in a race in spring 2016.

6. His strong results attracted the attention of ColoQuick-Cult, a Danish UCI Continental team. Christian Andersen, the team's general manager, gave Vingegaard a contract in May 2016 and he joined the team with immediate effect.

7. At that time, Vingegaard held two jobs working in the fishing industry. First of all he worked at a local fish auction, before moving to a job at a nearby fish factory.

8. Later that year he achieved his first major international result with Coloquick, finishing second in the UCI 2.1 class race the Tour of China. 

9. While at Coloquick, he suffered a fractured leg in a crash at the 2017 Tour des Fjords, which caused him to miss the rest of the season.

10. In March 2018, Vingegaard set the record for the fastest ever ascent of the Coll de Rates climb in Spain near Alicante, according to Strava. He rode the 6.5 kilometres in 13.02 minutes, which was 12 seconds faster than Tejay van Garderen who previously held the record.

11. He joined Dutch WorldTour team Jumbo-Visma in 2019, and he soon won his first UCI WorldTour race on stage six of the Tour de Pologne. That was his first win until 2021.

12. He would complete his first Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España, in 2020 and was able to help his teammate Primož Roglič win the race overall. There were few hints that he'd emerge into the Tour de France winner he became, as he ended up 46th.

13. When 2021 arrived, Vingegaard continued his great form for his new team winning stage five of the UAE Tour. He also won Coppi e Bartali that year, racking up four wins.

14. Away from cycling, did you know that his mother in law is a celebrity in Denmark? Rosa Kildahl is a television personality and has featured on the Danish equivalent of the Great British Bake Off.

15. Back in the early days before starting cycling, his favourite subject at school was Maths.

16. Whenever he wins a race, Vingegaard is often pictured on the phone as he warms down on the rollers. He likes to phone his wife straight after a win to share the moment with her if she's not at the race.

17. Vingegaard met his wife, Trine Marie Hansen, while riding for his former team Coloquick in Denmark. Hansen was the team's marketing manager. 

18. He is contracted to Jumbo-Visma until the end of the 2028 season, with his new contract extension being announced earlier this year. He has previously said that the length of the contract gave him "peace of mind".

19. When he returned to Denmark, he was flown by private plane, flanked by two Danish Air Force jets. A celebration of Vingegaard in Copenhagen was attended by an estimated 70,000 people, while more than 20,000 went to the party in his hometown of Glyngøre later the same week.

20. At the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, Vingegaard briefly looked like he was threatening his teammate Sepp Kuss' lead in the red jersey, but said that he would "love" to see the American win. He did go on to do so.

21. In his crash at Itzulia Basque Country, Vingegaard suffered a punctured lung, along with breaking several ribs and his collarbone.