Vingegaard Joins Elite Cycling Club but Still in Pogacar's Shadow for Tour de France

The Grand Slam Achievement

Jonas Vingegaard's completion of cycling's grand slam—victories in all three Grand Tours (Italy, France, and Spain)—elevates him into an exclusive club of cycling legends. The 29-year-old Danish rider joins Belgium's Eddy Merckx, France's Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil, Spain's Alberto Contador, Italians Felice Gimondi and Vincenzo Nibali, and Great Britain's Chris Froome as the only cyclists to have achieved this feat.

"It is a special day for me," Vingegaard said, showing rare emotion as he paid tribute to his family's support. "It's way more than I could ever dream of when I was a kid."

The Comeback Story

Vingegaard's accomplishment is all the more remarkable considering his recovery from life-threatening injuries sustained in a 2024 high-speed crash in the Basque Country. The accident resulted in broken ribs, sternum, and collarbone, along with a punctured lung. "I really believed I was going to die," he admitted at the time.

While his rival Tadej Pogacar continued to rack up victories, Vingegaard faced a long road back to competitive cycling. "I feel like I've spent the last two years fighting my way back," he acknowledged shortly before the Giro d'Italia began. His resilience was tested during his fourth Grand Tour victory, where he noted: "If you don't come out of a Grand Tour completely on your knees, then you have something to build on."

The Tour de France Dynamics

Although Vingegaard's Giro victory was impressive—winning five summit finishes and taking the overall title by more than five minutes—it came without several key competitors. Four-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, double Olympic gold medallist Remco Evenepoel, and French prodigy Paul Seixas were notably absent from the Italian race.

These rivals will all be on the start line for the Tour's Grand Depart in Barcelona in July. Austrian climber Felix Gall, who finished second in the Giro, observed: "I'm not sure Jonas really worried about me. He is clearly on a different level."

Despite Vingegaard's consistency—he finished second in the Tour last year, won the Vuelta, and this season claimed Paris-Nice, the Volta a Catalunya, and the Giro—the significance of the Tour de France in cycling's hierarchy means he still exists in Pogacar's shadow.

The Road Ahead

As both riders prepare for the Tour, Pogacar and Evenepoel have been training at altitude in southern Spain, focusing on climbing form. Seixas has been putting in marathon training rides at Sierra Nevada, accumulating approximately 37,000 meters of vertical gain in less than two weeks. Vingegaard, after time with family in Denmark, will also complete his Tour preparation at altitude in Tignes.

For Vingegaard, a third Tour victory looks possible, but it would likely require a dip in form from the Slovenian to allow him to succeed. With Pogacar still at the peak of his powers, Vingegaard's challenge remains formidable, even after joining cycling's most exclusive club.