The day before the start of the Tour de France, two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) confirmed that he is in the "best shape of his life", signaling that he is ready to defeat defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
"I can definitely say that I'm stronger than ever," Vingegaard confirmed. "I was also in very good shape last year at the Tour de France, but it was completely different - I had less muscle, I was much lighter. I'm heavier now, but it's muscle and we know that it also gives me more strength. I can say that I'm in the best shape of my life. We'll see if that's enough or not."
Vingegaard's physical transformation began after a long recovery process to get back to the level he was before his horrific crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in March last year. Although the 28-year-old Dane also crashed this season, suffering a concussion at Paris-Nice, his preparation has been much more successful.
"It's obviously a big difference compared to last year when I came back from a terrible fall," Vingegaard said. "To be honest, it took me a lot longer than I thought - it's only been in the last few months that I've felt like my body is back to where it was before the accident. It's taken almost a year to get back to where it was. When you're in bed for two weeks after a fall, you lose a lot of muscle. We tried to get it back and we did," he added.
Visma sports director Grischa Niermann added that Vingegaard's approach to the 2025 Tour and new level of excellence will give him the confidence to defeat Pogačar.
"If we were to sit here and say Tadej is unbeatable, we might as well go home," Niermann said bluntly. "We believe Jonas is in the best shape of his life – and that's what it takes to beat him. What gives us hope is that Jonas said last year's preparation was completely sub-optimal – and he was still very good. This year, at least in the last few months, everything has gone well – we are here, fully prepared and giving it our all."
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— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) July 4, 2025
Press duties this morning! 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/blrZTIp6WV
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— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) July 4, 2025
One more sleep... 🥹
Follow the final preparations in our liveblog!
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— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) July 4, 2025
Ready to give everything. 💥
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