Former seven-time Grand Tour champion Alberto Contador has cast doubt on Team Visma Lease a Bike’s belief that Jonas Vingegaard performs better in the second Grand Tour of a season, arguing that the theory has never truly been tested against Tadej Pogačar.
Vingegaard arrives at the 2026 Tour de France after an outstanding first half of the year. The Dane claimed overall victories at Paris–Nice, Volta a Catalunya, and the Giro d’Italia, where he secured five stage wins and completed cycling’s full set of Grand Tour titles. His Giro triumph came ahead of rivals such as Felix Gall, Jai Hindley and Thymen Arensman.
Before the Giro concluded, Visma sports director Marc Reef explained that the team supported Vingegaard’s decision to attempt the Giro–Tour double because they had previously observed him improving during a second Grand Tour in the same season. The team pointed to his performances after combining the Tour and Vuelta in previous campaigns as evidence.
Contador, however, remains unconvinced. Speaking to Eurosport, he noted that Vingegaard’s previous second-Grand-Tour successes came in races where Pogačar was absent. The 2025 Vuelta a España, which Vingegaard won, did not feature the Slovenian, and the same was true of the 2023 Vuelta, where Visma swept the podium with Sepp Kuss, Vingegaard and Primož Roglič.
According to Contador, the real test will come when Vingegaard faces both Pogačar and emerging French talent Paul Seixas in the same Grand Tour. While Vingegaard has demonstrated he can maintain top form deep into a season, the unanswered question is whether he can do so while overcoming the sport’s strongest rivals.
That challenge awaits at the 2026 Tour de France. Although Vingegaard appears close to his best level again, Pogačar remains the race favourite after dominating the previous two editions, defeating the Dane by more than six minutes in 2024 and over four minutes in 2025. The Slovenian’s continued progression means Vingegaard’s Giro success may not be enough on its own.
The Tour, which starts in Barcelona on 4 July and concludes on 26 July, will determine whether Vingegaard’s ambitious Giro–Tour double can finally deliver another victory over Pogačar.
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