In one of the hardest editions of the race in recent years, Jonas Vingegaard – once so puny that he shirked tackles in schoolboy football – lines up in Bilbao on Saturday to defend his Tour de France title as a more complete and confident rider.
Buoyed by recent wins in major races such as the Tour of the Basque Country and the Critérium du Dauphiné, Vingegaard goes into this year’s Tour with a new authority and a lot more confidence than in 2022, when the Dane’s undoubted climbing abilities had to be drawn out of him by his team.
