For Jonas Vingegaard, the cycling year 2025 ended with a bitter disappointment at the European Championships in France. The Danish superstar also had no chance in a direct duel with Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France. Nevertheless, the Visma / Lease a Bike team captain is quite satisfied with his season.
“I actually think it was a good season overall,” Vingegaard made a surprising assessment at a press conference after his European Championship debacle in France at the weekend: “It wasn’t the best season, but not the worst either. I think I can be satisfied with my performance this year.”
However, the 28-year-old did not come close to his previous performance. “I think that my 2023 season, in which I won the Tour and came second in the Vuelta, was definitely better,” he said self-critically. Nevertheless, Vingegaard is proud of what has been achieved in the past few months.
Cycling: Vingegaard is “very happy” about that
“There’s a lot to choose from, but I’m particularly happy about my victory at the Vuelta,” said the Dane and added: “I’m also kind of proud of coming second in the Tour. That wasn’t my goal, and I’m not entirely happy with it either, but now I’ve been on the Tour podium five times. I can be proud of that too.”
The Visma superstar recently came under fire for a disastrous performance at the European Championships in France. After around 90 of the 202 kilometers, he got off the bike exhausted. A debacle for him and Denmark’s team. The two-time Tour winner had said before the start of the race that he didn’t know what his form was like.
But no one expected such a weak performance. “He didn’t train. He didn’t do what was necessary to be ready for the European Championships. That’s my best assessment,” complained ex-Tour winner Bjarne Riis, among others, on the specialist portal “Feltet”.