7.38w/kg and €4 million: the numbers behind Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France

Jonas Vingegaard is the seemingly shy and retiring foil to Tadej Pogačar’s bravado-laced brilliance.

Pogačar puts in swashbuckling stage-winning sprints while the Dane appears content with clinging on to his rear wheel. But the Tour de France is a marathon, and the 28-year-old from a small village in Denmark has previously shown he has reserves of strength that will serve him well over a three-week Grand Tour.

From a mind-boggling power-to-weight ratio to a feather-light frame, these are the numbers that could help Vingegaard join Pogačar in the three-time Tour winners' club.

• 7 remarkable numbers behind Tadej Pogačar's Tour de France success
• 6 surprising numbers behind Mathieu van der Poel’s Tour de France success

1

Jonas Vingegaard is a fan of a 1x drivetrain on his Cervélo S5, using a 52T chainring and 10-36t cassette for the opening stage of this year’s Tour de France. 

It’s not the first time the Dane has opted for a 1x setup, and he has been alternating between one and two chainrings since 2023 when Team Visma–Lease a Bike switched drivetrain suppliers from Shimano to SRAM.

2

Vingegaard has won the Tour de France twice (2022 and 2023) and finished runner-up to Tadej Pogačar twice (2021 and 2024). 

He also has two Vuelta starts, where he played supporting roles to Primož Roglič and Sepp Kuss’ GC wins – finishing 46th (2020) and second (2023).

4

Vingegaard’s palmares features four Tour de France stage wins, including a mountainous time trial at the 2023 edition that saw him crush Pogačar. That should give him confidence ahead of this year’s second time trial, an uphill slog on stage 13.

7.38

Although Vingegaard and his team keep his data under wraps, Lantern Rouge calculated that the Dane was able to hold a power-to-weight ratio of 7.38 w/kg for 13:31 during his 2023 time-trial win. That’s an eye-popping ratio that most cat 4 riders could only hold for one minute.

8

Vingegaard’s first Tour de France general classification win in 2022 saw him pick up the polka dot jersey for the King of the Mountains competition.

That meant he became only the eighth rider to win the yellow and polka dot jerseys in one race, joining a list including some of cycling’s all-time legends: Gino Bartali (twice), Sylvère Maes, Fausto Coppi (twice), Federico Bahamontes, Eddy Merckx (twice), Carlos Sastre and Chris Froome. 

18

The two-time Tour de France winner had a light build-up to this year’s Tour de France, completing only 18 race days before the Lille Grand Depart. 

After winning the general classification in February’s Volta ao Algarve, Vingegaard had led Paris-Nice in March before suffering an apparent concussion in a crash on stage 5. He didn’t return to racing until June’s Critérium du Dauphiné.

58

Although only one centimetre shorter than Pogačar at 1.75m, Vingegaard weighs in at a featherweight 58kg. That’s seven kilos lighter than the Slovenian. Could this work to his advantage as the race enters the mountains? We’ll have to wait and see. 

700

Vingegaard doesn’t have a bad boy image, but he has been fined €700 while competing at the Tour de France.

On stage 12 in 2022, he was fined €500 for “starting without signing on, failing to respect the order or timing of signing the signing-on sheet or the team presentation”.

And on stage 14 in 2023, he was fined €200 for “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour (in particular undressing or urinating in public at the start or finish or during the race) and damage to the image of sport”. 

• How do pro cyclists pee during a stage of the Tour de France?

4,000,000

The Dane is reported to earn €4 million a year from Team Visma–Lease a Bike, where he has a contract until 2028. His salary places him fourth in the peloton behind Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and former teammate Primož Roglič.