Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) has shown he is well on track with his early season condition and confirmed his rivalry with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in July should be much closer than Tour de France 2024.
The duo won their first stage races of the season today, both claiming the final stages of their respective races; Vingegaard victorious at Volta ao Algarve and Pogačar taking UAE Tour overall.
"I am of course very happy, it was a very good day for me, for the team," Vingegaard said after his TT win delivered him the final yellow jersey. "I'm very happy to take the overall victory, take the revenge from the other days.
"I'm super happy and proud. My daughter said earlier today that I had to win today. So that gave me extra motivation. It was a very nice TT. Today I had great legs and I'm happy to finish it off."
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"I'm feeling good and happy to do very well today. I think I did a very good time trial. I'm happy, proud and looking forward to the next part of the season."
Wout van Aert acaba de registar o melhor tempo até ao momento! ?
? Acompanha ao minuto: https://t.co/7dgR3IRMmh#AAlgarvia #VoltaAoAlgarve pic.twitter.com/weWWG2arxV
— Volta ao Algarve (@VoltAlgarve) February 23, 2025
Vingegaard endured a crash-impacted season last year and though he got back in time to start the Tour, he never really challenged Pogačar, even though the Dane took a stage win and was 2nd overall.
Today, Pogačar won the final stage at UAE Tour, riding away from the opposition up Jebel Hafeet after spending almost 100km in a lead group of 19 riders. He sewed up the overall victory in the process, bringing his win tally already this season to three.
Pogačar had won stage 2 on Jebel Jais and today, on the second summit finish of the race, he made a solo move from the remains of the lead group with 7.5km remaining. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) was 2nd, at 33 seconds, with Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) a further two seconds back in 3rd.
And today's finishing order was also the final podium of the race; Pogačar winning the event, for the third time in his career, by 1:14 from Ciccone, with Bilbao in 3rd at 1:19.
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A stunning attack and win ??
Tadej Pogačar launched 7.8km from the finish and went solo 300m later to win Stage 7 of the @uae_tour and seal overall victory.
________
?? #UAETour pic.twitter.com/Tpms4no8sT— Velon CC (@VelonCC) February 23, 2025
For Vingegaard, today's win in the final TT at Volta ao Algarve was perhaps more significant, from a personal perspective. It has offered the first confirmation he is shaping up for a Tour challenge after the most difficult season of his career in 2024.
Though he won Tour de Pologne last year, after the Tour, he then cut his season short and had not raced for six months. His coaching staff had spoken of the need to rebuild his physique after the setbacks of last year.
And though there were few doubts that Pogačar would hit the ground running in UAE, there were more question marks over Vingegaard's condition, especially after such a long break from racing.
He also failed to fire in the early stages in Algarve, finishing back in 6th on the stage 2 uphill finish to Alto da Foia.
Vingegaard went into today's 19.6km TT from Salir to the uphill finish in Malhão in 6th place overall, and some 20 seconds down on young Swiss rider, and stage 2 winner, Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
That time gap was nowhere near enough to carry Christen to victory, with Vingegaard motoring up the final climb on his TT bike and putting 1:17 into Christen, who could only manage 27th on the day.
Wout van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike), whose form looked underwhelming this week, pushed his team leader closest for victory on the day, though Vingegaard eventually nudged the Belgian off the hotseat, beating him by 11 seconds.
In the end, Vingegaard comprehensively beat his general classification rivals in the TT. He emerged from the race the winner by 15 seconds from João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), with Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) talking a promising 3rd overall, at 24 seconds.
Vingegaard beat Almeida by 31 seconds in the TT and put 37 seconds into De Plus. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) ended the race without a stage win and also looked under pressure in the TT today.
The Slovenian, who perhaps now looks like age is just starting to limit his performances a little, could only manage 12th in the TT. He was 49 seconds down on Vingegaard, his former team mate and one-time understudy.
