three victories in three days to launch his season, Jonas Vingegaard already ruthless

The double winner of the Tour de France won the three online stages of O Gran Camino, in Spain, against competition relegated very far away.

We don’t know what fuel Jonas Vingegaard uses for his car, but he really isn’t a diesel: already in 2023, the Dane wasted no time, starting his season with three victories on the… three stages of O Gran Camino, a race created in 2022 in Galicia (Spain). He did it again in 2024, once again choosing the Spanish race for his return.

By winning the three stages and the general, like last year, the leader of the Visma-Lease a Bike team (formerly Jumbo-Visma) reigned supreme over this Spanish weekend, relegating his first competitor, the young French hope Lenny Martinez, almost two minutes away. After an inaugural time trial neutralized due to weather conditions, the Dane did not even have to exert his talent to win.

Martinez and Bernal take a date

During the three straight stages, the double winner of the Tour de France smoothed out his efforts each time, irremediably widening the gap in the last kilometers without really having to work hard, winning alone each time. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), back at an interesting level after his serious injury, had to give up for 24 seconds on Friday. “This is my fourth stage victory here, although this one certainly wasn’t easy. With Bernal, I had a tough competitor for the stage victory. In terms of form, I’m already there where I wanted to be”welcomed the Dane on Friday.

On Saturday, the beaten group including the Groupama-FDJ trio, David Gaudu, Lenny Martinez and Quentin Pacher, lost 29 seconds on the Dane. “My teammates kept the breakaway at a good distance. I launched an attack and, fortunately, I was able to keep my lead until the finish,” welcomed Vingegaard on Saturday evening.

Sunday, during a new stage cut due to the weather, Vingegaard did it again in pouring rain with 16 seconds ahead of Lenny Martinez. “With three stage victories and the final victory, we can say that it is an almost perfect race. The only negative note is the weather. It’s a real shame that we had to finish in these difficult weather conditions.”summarized the Dane.

Undivided to launch the season

So here is Jonas Vingegaard with six victories in the last six stages recorded at O ​​Gran Camino. Enough to validate a particular winter preparation, after having completed the Tour de France and Tour of Spain for the first time. “In recent months I have spent a lot of time in training camps. It went very well, especially in Tenerife where we put the final touches to the preparation for the season.” explained the Dane on his team’s website.

For the moment, 2024 is therefore a copy and paste of 2023 for Vingegaard, whose racing program until the Tour de France will only have one change: before the Tour of the Basque Country (April 1-6) and the Critérium du Dauphiné (June 2-9), he will travel to Tirreno-Adriatico (March 4-10) rather than Paris-Nice. He will therefore postpone his first match with Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic, present in the Race to the Sun (March 3-10). They will meet again in July to eye the yellow jersey.

If the two aforementioned will try to get a first one on their list, Jonas Vingegaard is now evolving in another dimension: he will try to join Louison Bobet, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain and Chris Froome with a third consecutive coronation on the Grande Boucle.