Jonas Vingegaard Hansen

Vingegaard grew up in Thy, in north-west Jutland, and came to cycling at ten after watching a stage of the Danmark Rundt. He signed for the Danish continental team ColoQuick in 2016, aged 19, and for the next two years worked mornings at a fish factory in Hanstholm, skinning fish from six until midday and training in the afternoon. A broken femur cost him most of 2017.

His first WorldTour win came on stage six of the 2019 Tour de Pologne. He was still a support rider in 2021, called up for the Tour de France only when Tom Dumoulin withdrew, and inherited the leadership when Primož Roglič crashed out in the first week. He finished second behind Tadej Pogačar and took the white jersey, the first Dane on the Tour podium since 1996.

The 2022 Tour turned on stage 11, where he attacked Pogačar on the Col du Granon and took yellow. He won again at Hautacam and finished 2:43 clear, with the mountains jersey as well. He defended the title in 2023 after winning Itzulia Basque Country and the Critérium du Dauphiné, putting 1:38 into Pogačar in the stage 16 time trial to Combloux. That autumn he rode the Vuelta in support of Sepp Kuss and finished second.

A crash at Itzulia in April 2024 left him with a broken collarbone, broken ribs and a punctured lung. He was back at the Tour three months later, won stage 11 and finished second. Concussion at Paris-Nice interrupted his 2025 spring, and Pogačar beat him again in July. In September he took three stages of the Vuelta a España, including Bola del Mundo, and won the race by 1:16 from João Almeida.

He and Pogačar have filled the top two places at the Tour de France every year from 2021 to 2025, in one order or the other. Vingegaard climbs on sustained power rather than short accelerations, and Visma has built its Tour racing around that, putting riders up the road early so the final climb is not the only place the pressure comes from.