Geographically, you can’t get much further in western Europe from Nice’s Promenade des Anglais than the Roman Empire-era lighthouse in the northwesterly Spanish city of A Coruña. But for Jonas Vingegaard, the path towards a possible third Tour de France victory on the French Riviera next July will start there on Thursday for the O Gran Camiño, in the shadow of the 2,000-year-old guardian of the rugged Galician coastline.
Stage 1’s opening time trial of this year’s O Gran Camiño race will finish at the foot of the ‘Tower of Hercules’, as A Coruña’s lighthouse, the oldest still-functioning model in the world, is known. Vingegaard could hardly find himself thrown under a sharper spotlight, either, given the 12-kilometre individual race against the clock not only marks his debut in the 2024 season, but is also the first point when his currently unbeaten track record in O Gran Camiño could be challenged.
