Vingegaard vs Pogačar: Back to Winning Form?

Jonas Vingegaard nearly ended his season finale in disaster this weekend, but instead, he confirmed he’s back to his Tadej Pogačar-beating best.

The two-time Tour de France winner brushed off a late-race crash in Sunday’s exhibition race at the Saitama Criterium, but sounded bullish during the Japanese jaunt by suggesting that he’s finally regained the top form he lost in his devastating 2024 crash at Itzulia Basque Country.

“You never really know when you have a bad crash like that if you will get back to the same level you had before,” Vingegaard told AFP. “It’s only by the end of this year that I can see that I’m able to push in the same way that I was before my crash.”

The Dane’s words reveal how long it took for the 28-year-old to fully recover from the near-career-ending crash in April 2024.

That devastating high-speed wipeout left him with a punctured lung and multiple fractures, leaving him with physical and mental scars that carried deep into this season.

Vingegaard still managed to finish second overall in the past two editions of the Tour de France, and won his third career grand tour at the Vuelta a España in September.

“It’s taken me quite a long time to come back to the same level,” he said. “Slowly you come back to it, and hopefully now I can get back to improving rather than trying to get back to the same level.”

Accepting Pogačar’s dominance — for now

The 2025 season could be a turning point for Vingegaard.

The Dane said he believes he can get back on track to improve and not just regain his former level.

The problem there is that Pogačar is also on an upward trend that saw significant improvements for the Slovenian, who’s proven all but unbeatable in the past two racing seasons.

Second to an untouchable Pog at both the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour saw Vingegaard as the first among mortals in 2025, but a win at the Vuelta in September bolsters his confidence.

“Of course, I would have loved to win the Tour de France, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” Vingegaard said. “ I finished second in the Tour and won the Vuelta, so it’s obviously been a good season.”

The comments come at the end of another tumultuous and successful season for Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike team.

The Dutch super squad won the Giro d’Italia with Simon Yates and the Vuelta with Vingegaard, but Pogačar was imperious at the Tour with a fourth career win.

Winning when Pogačar isn’t there

Vingegaard is satisfied with his return in 2025, which featured another setback at the Paris-Nice in March when he crashed out with a concussion and missed several weeks of training ahead of the Tour.

It wasn’t until the Vuelta in September that Vingegaard felt like he was back.

The Dane won six times in 2025, including GC wins at the Volta ao Algarve and the Vuelta, but none of those “W’s” came with Pogačar in the field.

Incredibly, Vingegaard finished second on 11 occasions across the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France this summer, and in all but three of them, the Slovenian beat him. Twice he finished ahead of Pogačar on placement, but on the same time.

His only significant gain came in the Dauphiné time trial, where he nicked 28 seconds from Pogačar on a rare off-day.

That stat tells the story of the past 24 months: Vingegaard is right there, but the Slovenian still has his number. At least for now.

Vingegaard ended his season in fitting fashion Sunday by crashing, bouncing back, and winning anyway at the Japanese “show race” that is a chance for pros to wind down and do goofy things.

The Dane hit the deck three-quarters into the race, only to brush off the scare to climb back on his bike to outsprint Jonathan Milan and Kaden Groves for the “win.”

“Luckily, I didn’t hurt myself and I just slipped,” Vingegaard said from Japan. “I just lost the wheel, and luckily nothing happened, and then I could come back and win.”

Vingegaard dodged a bullet in the exhibition race, which is a chance for ASO to parade the Tour de France stars in front of adoring Japanese fans.

Everyone knows Vingegaard isn’t going to beat the likes of Groves or Milan in a 60km criterium.

What’s in store in 2026?

Saitama is part of Vingegaard’s off-season that will include some more beach time before getting back to work ahead of the 2026 racing season.

Visma and Vingegaard will regroup in December for the team’s first pre-season planning meeting and again in early January in Spain to map out the 2026 calendar.

Vingegaard has hinted he’d like to race the Giro to complete the grand tour sweep, but Visma will be under pressure to bring a top-form Vingegaard back to the Tour for one more all-in run at the yellow jersey.

Pogačar proved the Giro-Tour combo is possible, winning the first double as part of his “Triple Crown” season in 2024 when he also won his first world title.

Visma could be tempted to try the double.

Vingegaard has the depth and experience to race and win the Giro, especially if there is a relatively light GC field at the Italian grand tour, and still have some gas left in the tank to race the Tour.

That would require a makeover of his favored road map toward the Tour that includes plenty of stints at altitude and select racing. Change, however, might be welcome.

It’s also uncertain what Pogačar’s season will look like, but like Vingegaard, he’s under pressure from sponsors to race and win the Tour de France.

A clean run across the spring classics, with unfinished business at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix at the top of the list, before what would be a fifth yellow jersey and a history-tying third world title look most likely for Pog.

Like Vingegaard and the Giro, Pogačar’s run at the Vuelta might have to wait until 2027.

What’s certain is that Pogačar and Vingegaard are locked in on the same goal with another tug-of-war for the yellow tunic.

This decade’s best Tour de France rivalry still has a few chapters to write.