Richard Plugge, CEO of Visma | Lease a Bike, says the team's plan for Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) to target the 2026 Giro d'Italia began during a visit to the rider's home in Denmark shortly after the 2025 Vuelta a España.
Speaking in a documentary published on YouTube, Plugge said he and Jacco Verhaeren, the team's head of sporting management, sat down with Vingegaard to map out the next phase of his career.
"Not long after the Vuelta a Espana celebration in September, Jacco and I went to his house in Denmark," Plugge said. "We had a really good conversation with him, where we talked about what the next goals should be, and how we should do it. And that was where the idea of trying to win the Giro started. The idea of winning all three Grand Tours."
The plan produced a clear result. Vingegaard made his Giro d'Italia debut a winning one in 2026, taking the general classification by 5:22 from Felix Gall. In Rome on 31 May, he became the eighth male rider in history to have collected wins at the Giro, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.
How the plan took shape
The Denmark meeting emphasises how important the target was on a team level. By January 2026, the team's ambitions were already public. Head of racing Grischa Niermann told IDL Pro Cycling that the 2026 goals included winning both the Giro and the Tour, with Vingegaard named as the rider for both targets.
Plugge emphasised execution in describing the approach. "We know there is huge competition, so we have to do everything right," he said in the documentary. "First, 3 weeks long. So, the process needed more focus than already the trilogy thinking."
In the same documentary, Vingegaard confirmed that the all-three target carried personal weight. "I would lie if I say that it's not on my mind to be able to win all three Grand Tours," he said. "It's obviously one of the biggest achievements, at least that I can achieve in cycling."
The Giro itself bore out the planning. Vingegaard won the opening summit finish at Blockhaus on stage 7, beating Gall by 13 seconds. He took five stage victories in total, then attacked with around 11 kilometres remaining on stage 20 at Piancavallo to put the race beyond doubt. Gall finished second overall, with Jai Hindley third at 6:25.
Vingegaard's Grand Tour record now stands as one of the most consistent in the sport's history. Apart from his first Grand Tour, where he rode as a domestique for Primož Roglič, he has not finished worse than second in eight consecutive Grand Tour starts.
The documentary also captured Vingegaard still processing what he had achieved. "To be one out of eight who has now won all three Grand Tours," he said after the finish in Rome, "it's hard for me to even put words on. I'm almost lost for words."
He now heads to the Tour de France in Barcelona with the Grand Tour collection already complete before his July meeting with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).
Visma–Lease a Bike Tour de France squad
On June 23 Visma–Lease a Bike confirmed his support squad in a live video presentation, without the injured Wout van Aert:
Jonas Vingegaard
Sepp Kuss
Victor Campenaerts
Matteo Jorgenson
Edoardo Affini
Bruno Armirail
Davide Piganzoli
Per Strand Hagenes
Cover image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com
