The Dane Jonas Vingegaard surprisingly starts this year in a second major national tour. The 26-year-old will contest the Tour of Spain from August 26th to September 17th. “I will drive the Vuelta. I’ll be on the starting line in Barcelona with Primoz. We’re going into the race as captains,” Vingegaard told the Spanish sports newspaper “Marca”.
So far, only the start of Giro winner Primoz Roglic in Spain was known. It’s unusual for a Tour winner to have two three-week races in one year.
Vingegaard can win the Tour de France for the second time on Sunday. The jumbo pro goes into the final stage to Paris with a lead of 7:29 minutes over the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar. There, the overall leader is traditionally no longer attacked, which is why only a serious fall could stop Vingegaard.
It is quite surprising that Jumbo is going to the Vuelta with the Slovenian Roglic and Vingegaard. Most recently, the team started with the duo in 2022 at the Tour de France, also initially as joint captains. However, Roglic was weakened early on by a fall and did not compete again for the 15th stage. The 33-year-old won the Vuelta from 2019 to 2021 and retired last year after a fall while in second place.