'I’ve also been close to burning out' – Jonas Vingegaard risks all for a chance at cycling immortality

It’s a New Year, a new dawn, a new Giro d’Italia and Tour de France double bid – and Jonas Vingegaard is feeling good.

“We changed the programme and it’s something I’m really motivated by,” he says. “Personally, I really needed the change.”

“By repeating what you do every year, you get into the same roll and do the same every year. It’s not like I’m not motivated, but it’s more like sometimes you also need something new to increase your motivation again. I feel myself that I have a new energy I haven’t had for a few years.”

Playing with his wedding ring at times as he spoke, Vingegaard repeated that buzz phrase “new energy” three times in the first five minutes of his press conference at Visma-Lease a Bike’s media day on Tuesday in the hills north of Benidorm.

The runner-up in the last two editions of the Tour de France does not feel that he is sacrificing his chances in the sport’s blue riband race by chasing Giro glory first.

“The Tour is the big goal as well. I think you can also have both of them pretty equal as goals,” Vingegaard says. “I also want to win the Giro and I still believe that it’s possible for me to do both.” Tadej Pogačar showed as much in 2024, winning both the Giro and the Tour.

Finishing second in the 2023 Vuelta a España after Tour victory first made him realise that the Giro-Tour double was possible and he says he wanted to do it from the moment he won the Vuelta last year.

The data, run by the team, backed up his feeling: “The two times I’ve done the Vuelta after the Tour, I haven’t been worse, I’ve even been a bit better power-wise. We don’t believe it’s a disadvantage for me.”

UAE Team Emirates-XRG star João Almeida and former winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-bora-hansgrohe) are anticipated rivals for the race which begins in Bulgaria. Vingegaard knows he is flirting with both cycling immortality and burnout.

“Two Grand Tours will be very demanding,” he said, another reason for a “light” calendar which sees the 29-year-old only racing the UAE Tour and Volta a Catalunya alongside the first two grand tours.

Yates retirement is ‘big loss’

Burnout was on Vingegaard’s mind in light of last week’s shock retirement announcement from defending Giro d’Italia champion Simon Yates a week ago.

“It’s a very big loss for us, it’s very unfortunate we lose him now,” Vingegaard says. “He was going to play a very important role in the Tour. But I also have a lot of respect for his decision. I think it doesn’t come from nothing: he lost his motivation and the sport is very hard to be in, very demanding.

“Sometimes I’ve also been close to burning out. It is tough with all the altitude camps and everything, I know his programme from last year so I understand that it was very hard for him. That he makes this decision, I have a lot of respect for him when he feels it’s enough and he’s going to stop.”

Asked by Cycling Weekly when he had come closest to burnout and who stopped him from that state, the reigning Vuelta a España champion said: “We push ourselves to the limit with all the altitude camps, with everything. You always need to be ready for a race and go there to win it. It’s not like in the past, you come there to get in shape.”

“Obviously, there’s more pressure on all the riders. For me, it’s just about listening to who I am as a person and what I need. And I’ve said it many times, but it’s something my wife really helps me with: to get me to feel what I need and how I feel about it.”

Vingegaard is aware that the World Championships road race in Montreal could be pushing the envelope, even though the hilly route suits and motivates him.

“I just hope that if I’m completely done after the Tour that people will actually accept it now, instead of saying that I had to go to the Worlds,” he said, an apparent reference to the criticism he received in September 2025 for opting out of last year’s event in Rwanda.

“The times I’ve said no to the Worlds are for a reason, not because I don’t want to … I showed in the Europeans last year when enough is enough,” alluding to his DNF there.

On the cusp of history

Vingegaard has never raced the Giro d’Italia in his career. If he achieves the grand tour holy trinity, he would follow Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and his “big idol” Alberto Contador into the sport’s annals.

“I really liked watching Contador, especially the way he raced: he was not afraid of attacking and cracking,” he reflects.

However, the Dane is not motivated by being the first in his generation to achieve the full house.

“I think we all know Tadej [Pogačar] will do it sooner or later, I guess,” he says. “It’s more about being able to win all three of them. It would be a dream for me, an incredible achievement,” he says. Only seven men in history have done it.

It is all change for the Visma-Lease a Bike squad too, not just their figurehead. They have made nine winter signings ahead of the 2026 season, including French national time-trial champion Bruno Armirail, Briton Owain Doull and Italian youngster Davide Piganzoli. Dylan van Baarle, Cian Uijtdebroeks,Tiesj Benoot and Olav Kooij are among the departures.

“I know there’s been a lot of writing in the media that we haven’t done well in the transfers, but I was also not the biggest talent [or] the first in line to get a WorldTour contract,” Vingegaard says.

“I think the signings they made are pretty good. It’s some of the [sport’s] big talents. I think Davide will be a very good climber and the same with Louis [Barré]. We will have some good climbing power.”