Jonas Vingegaard has confirmed he will be riding the 2023 Vuelta a España after taking victory in the Tour de France, cementing the most slate of Vuelta contenders seen for years.
“See you in Barcelona, in the Vuelta,” Vingegaard told Spanish sports daily dem and other Spanish media on Sunday morning before traveling to Paris for the final leg of the Tour.
“I will try to go to GC and Primož [Roglič] I will as well. “Obviously we are two leaders,” he said in an interview with Stage 21 ahead of the Tour de France.
Vingegaard and Roglič are two leading names in a high-quality field that also includes last year’s Vuelta winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and the riders who finished second and third in this year’s Giro d’Italia: João Almeida (UAE Emirates Team) and former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas (Eneos Grenadier).
Also in the running were Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Enrique Mas (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates Team).
Vingegaard is set to be crowned winner of the Tour de France on Sunday for the second year in a row and will have a month to recover before traveling to Spain to start the Vuelta a España in Barcelona on August 26.
He will start the Vuelta as joint team leader in Jumbo-Visma with Primo Roglic, who won the Giro d’Italia in May. Roglic is targeting a record-equalling fourth Vuelta victory this fall. He is also expected to ride the Super Domestic Sep Cousse on the Vuelta if he recovers from his stage 20 crash and fatigue from riding the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. Wilko Kelderman and Attila Walther are also part of the team’s long list.
It’s not clear what final role Vingegaard will play in Jumbo-Visma’s plans for the Vuelta, but his presence will greatly bolster the team as they fight to become the first team ever to win all three Grand Tours in one year.
“Winning three Grand Tours this year is the goal,” team principal Richard Plugg recently confirmed to Het Laatste Nieuws.
Vingegaard has never competed in two Grand Tours in the same season before, but in 2020 he has been instrumental in the mountains of the Vuelta as back-up to Roglic, including a memorable stint in the challenging Alto de la Farrapona in northern Spain.
The 2023 Vuelta a España features a typical mountain road, including summit finishes at the Tourmalet and Angliru as well as a mid-race mid-race time trial in Valladolid.