BARCELONA, Spain AP - Jonas Vingegaard has his sights set on a first Grand Tour title in two years when the Spanish Vuelta starts on Saturday, with top rival Tadej Pogacar skipping the mountainous three-week race.
Vingegaard won the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023 but has found himself continually finishing behind Pogacar ever since recovering from a gruesome crash during the Tour of Basque Country in Spain in April 2024.
That accident left him with a collapsed lung and a broken collarbone, among other injuries. Rather miraculously he was back in action at the Tour a couple of months later, but Vingegaard has finished the sport's elite race as runner-up behind Pogacar for two years running.