Johan Bruyneel sees potential trap for Jonas Vingegaard ahead of Tour de France

Jonas Vingegaard came, saw, and conquered in his very first Giro d'Italia. The Dane still has to complete the final stage to Rome, but he was extremely dominant over the past three weeks. This bodes well for the Tour de France. Johan Bruyneel is impressed with Vingegaard but also wants to caution the Dane.

Five stage wins and a lead of over five minutes in the general classification: Jonas Vingegaard was in a class of his own during the past three weeks in the Giro d'Italia. The Dane is now ticking off the last big Grand Tour missing from his bucket list, but there is not much time to enjoy his Giro victory. In just over five weeks, the Tour de France already begins.

Bruyneel saw a very strong Vingegaard in action in the Giro, but is that enough to beat Tadej Pogacar later on? "I'm sure Jonas didn't go all out in the last mountain stage," says the former rider and team director in his podcast The Move. "It’s hard to say if he’s already performing at his peak, but I think physically he’s very close to it."

"The big challenge heading into the Tour is how he will bridge those five weeks. He will now take some rest, then head to altitude training. He won't race again until the Tour," Bruyneel explains. "That’s definitely a challenge. How do you organize this time? In theory, you can map it all out, but that’s not how it works in practice. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but he is in a good position. He’s done his homework."

"They really need to pay close attention to this"
However, Bruyneel sees a potential pitfall: staying healthy up to the Tour start in Barcelona. "Even if he doesn’t arrive in Rome completely exhausted, his body will be worn down. And that’s when you’re especially vulnerable to minor issues. I’m not saying he will get sick after the Giro, but that’s definitely something they need to watch very carefully."