{"id":24805,"date":"2026-03-31T15:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/?p=24805"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:37:09","slug":"is-vingegaard-truly-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2026\/03\/31\/is-vingegaard-truly-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Vingegaard Truly Back?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two years of setbacks, crashes and finally a dominant performance at the Volta a Catalunya, the question is: is Jonas Vingegaard finally back to his best?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Dane looked superb at the Volta, adding to his earlier Paris\u2013Nice win and showing the calm, ruthless climbing that once made him the only rider able to truly trouble Tadej Poga\u010dar.\u00a0Seems like a long while ago though eh? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vingegaard says he has \u201cspent the last two years fighting my way back\u201d \u2013 and right now, it seems that that battle is bearing fruit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Giro still to come before July\u2019s Tour de France, there is still plenty to prove however. But for the first time in a long time, there is a sense, at least amongst Vingegaard and his fans, that the Dane may be able to give Pogacar a fight at the Tour. He is all set to race in the Giro d\u2019Italia first, which should give a clearer picture of how strong he is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is, will be able to recover in time for the Tour, even if he has a great (ie winning) Giro?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a risky plan, to race 3 weeks in May and then head to the Tour, but to beat the Slovenian, risks must be taken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess in a sense, if he wins the Giro, great, happy team, his star shines again – and if he then drops off at the Tour – ie gets smashed by Pogi, as most still expect – then he can say ‘well, one Grandee is pretty good and naturally I was tired…’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’ll be an interesting 2 months or so! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He’s desperate to reignite both his Grand Tour his career and his battle royale series with Pogi – but is the Giro before the Tour the best way to ensure this? A gamble worth taking? <\/p>","protected":false},"author":40955418,"featured_media":24819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159546164,112364],"tags":[767234114,126410,767234115,74634611,767234117,767233557,721158212,767234116],"class_list":["post-24805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-punkopinion","category-world-tour","tag-gamble","tag-giro","tag-giro-ditala","tag-pogacar","tag-rivalry","tag-tour-de-france","tag-vingegaard","tag-volta"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t