Vingegaard Dominates Tirreno-Adriatico

In the opening time trial of the Tirreno-Adriatico, Jonas Vingegaard fell behind Juan Ayuso by 22 seconds. However, this did not deter the Tour de France Champion and his team, Visma-Lease a Bike, from planning a strategic attack on the key San Giacomo climb during stage 5, which they executed flawlessly on Friday.

With the support of his teammates’ exceptional high-speed chase and tempo work, Vingegaard shot ahead of Ayuso and the rest with 5.6km of the climb left and 29.5km from the finish line. With impressive strength and skill, he cranked his 52-tooth single chainring, outperforming everyone else in the fragmented peloton and rapidly gaining a substantial lead.

Vingegaard then rode swiftly down the San Giacomo descent and made a grueling climb to the finish line in Valle Castellana, increasing his lead over the pursuers by 1:12. Thanks to a ten-second time bonus, Vingegaard is now ahead of Ayuso in the race by a significant 54 seconds. Unless he has a dreadful performance on the mountain stage to Monte Petrano on Saturday, he’s set to be the winner of this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico.

After Friday’s race, Vingegaard commented that risks sometimes must be taken in order to seize opportunities. He took the chance and it paid off. He also expressed his gratitude towards his teammates for their hard work. “Why not attempt an attack, if I know my form was up to it?” he said.

It’s customary for Vingegaard to honor his wife, Trine Marie Hansen, by kissing his wedding ring as he crosses the finish line. On International Women’s Day, he specially dedicated his victory to her as her support means the world to him. He acknowledges her role in his wins and his development as a cyclist.

The remarkable solo victory came after a series of admirable solo attacks and victories by Vingegaard’s Tour de France competitors, Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar. When asked if he’s the best climber in the world, as Pogacar recently suggested, Vingegaard declined to debate the topic. He was, however, thrilled that Pogacar thinks so highly of him and looks forward to friendly competition in the future.