Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar will forever be compared to each other as the two best GC riders of a generation, but as the Dane looks to do something at the Giro d'Italia that even his main rival hasn't yet done in his illustrious career – win all three Grand Tours – his Visma-Lease a Bike team have said there won't be any sense of trying to one-up the 2024 winner's dominant campaign.
Pogačar was all-conquering at his Giro debut, claiming pink with a win on stage 2 and holding it all the way until Rome with the biggest winning margin since 1965, nine minutes and fifty six seconds, taking six stages in total along the way.
Vingegaard took his first at the 2026 race atop Blockhaus, and while he has another chance on Sunday's summit finish to Corno alle Scale, Visma have said not to necessarily expect the same level of total domination: the final pink jersey is their only objective, anything else would just be a bonus.
"The most important thing is that we win the GC, and it's not a goal to dominate," said Visma sports director Marc Reef to Cyclingnews before stage 8 in Chieti.
"Of course, we would like to win maybe one or two more stages, but we also have to see; it's a race of three weeks, and you always need to expect the unexpected. In the last four years, the race was turned upside down on stage 20. I hope that will not be the case, but if we get into the situation, we still need to be ready for that, and sometimes you need to balance your energy.
"In that way, sometimes you can go for a stage, and at other moments you can let the break take the stage, but the goal is not to dominate, the goal is to win it in the end."
Vingegaard is the only rider to ever beat Pogačar at the Tour de France, in 2022 and 2023, but while he can be a ruthless stage winner, with 49 professional victories to his name so far, he's never won at the rate his rival has. Across his two Tour wins, Vingegaard only won three stages, but at the Vuelta last season, he had his most successful GT campaign to date, taking three stages en route to the red jersey.
"He wants to win. It's mostly about winning that he wants to be here, and when he has the possibilities to do that, he wants to show that more than anything else," said Reef of his leader. "That's what he's been getting out of bed for, to step on his bike, show that he has been working hard, and to win the race."
As Pogačar did two years ago, Vingegaard is trying to complete the elusive Giro-Tour de France double in 2026, and Visma have long said that his attacking exploits at the Giro would be based on feeling.
That's not to say they will hold him back at any moment. Reef noted that while a careful balance is what they are trying to achieve, several of their rivals could try to strike at any moment if they sense any weakness or hesitation from the Dane.
"You can make all kinds of plans, and think about balance up front, but when you're in the race, the only thing that counts is to do everything right here and to push yourself to win it," said Reef.
"We are here now in this Giro, so we only think about winning the Giro. After that comes the Tour, and we'll see what the situation is and plan for it. Anyway, you will be challenged by your opponent, so either you do it yourself or someone else will just be setting the pace."
Blockhaus 'confirmed his role as being a favourite'
Vingegaard could well have his second stage win as the first week finally comes to an end on Sunday, especially after his display on Blockhaus. With Davide Piganzoli and experienced head Sepp Kuss playing a huge role on that day, his mountain train looks more than strong enough to pilot him to another victory, but a stacked breakaway could prevent that.
"It confirmed his role as being a favourite here in this race, and we also said already we're not going to walk away from that," said Reef as he looked back to Blockhaus.
"But we also saw how strong the rest are. Pellizzari followed him for a long time, then blew up, but he'll learn again from this, and Felix Gall was still close at the finish line, so we just need to stay sharp and keep doing things 100%.
"Gall showed yesterday how good he is. He showed it in the past already, and yes, he was not on the podium yet of a Grand Tour, but he's started off well here and, of course, he's a really big opponent of ours."
Gall is the closest GC challenger behind Vingegaard, 19 seconds in arrears, but everyone else expected to really push him is already more than a minute down. The second week of the Giro doesn't present much in the way of GC danger for the currently second-placed Vingegaard, with only stage 14 to Pila looking like a guaranteed showdown between the main favourites.
While Vingegaard isn't yet in pink, current race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) is not expected to hold onto the jersey for much longer after the time trial on stage 10, with the 42km flat test from Viareggio to Massa set to expose one of his key weaknesses. This could well be where Vingegaard moves into total control, but the aftermath of that day will certainly paint a picture of how the final GC may look by the time the race reaches Rome on May 31.
"Especially after TT, from that moment on, also because there's only one mountain stage in that second week, we will have a better view of how everybody from the top guys relates to each other, and how the GC looks at that moment," added Reef.
Visma are the defending champions at the Giro through Simon Yates, and if his win told them anything, it's that the Giro won't be decided until the final mountain stages are raced, so Vingegaard will need to maintain his absolute best shape until stages 19 and 20. So whether they are targeting it or not, it wouldn't be overly surprising if he did end up with five stage wins along the way.
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