Jonas Vingegaard's education in brief: primary school in Hillerslev and Tingstrup, the 10th grade on the cycling line at ISI Idrætsefterskole, a sports boarding school in Ikast, and then the higher commercial programme (HHX) at the business college in Thisted. Whether he completed the HHX exam is not stated in any source we have found. Alongside his cycling he spent several years working at the Chrisfish factory in Hanstholm – the job that made him known as "the fisherman" from Thy.
Primary school in Hillerslev and Tingstrup
Jonas Vingegaard was born and raised in Hillerslev in Thy. He attended Hillerslev School up to the 7th grade and took the 8th and 9th grades at Tingstrup School in Thisted, as described by B.T. and Wikipedia. As a child he played football and handball before cycling took over.
That happened in the summer of 2007. On 1 August he went with his father to the start of the Post Danmark Rundt in Thisted, where the club Thy Cykle Ring had set up a home trainer so spectators could try riding up a mountain. He joined the club soon afterwards and rode five seasons for it before moving to Aalborg Cykle-Ring in 2013. How his parents have followed him since is covered on the page about Jonas Vingegaard's family.
ISI Idrætsefterskole in Ikast
From August 2012 Jonas Vingegaard took the 10th grade on the cycling line at ISI Idrætsefterskole in Ikast. It nearly did not happen. According to TV 2, two months before term started he told his mother, Karina, that he no longer wanted to ride. She gave him an ultimatum: either the cycling line or the 10th grade at the local school. He chose the boarding school.
The year in Ikast was not easy. His former form teacher Mikael Larsen told DR that Jonas was quiet, humble and calm, and that he struggled at the time: he was small and slight, found it hard to keep up and lost motivation after defeats. But whenever the road went uphill he quickly showed he was among the strongest. According to the teacher, the year was mainly about rediscovering the joy of cycling.
Business college (HHX) in Thisted
After boarding school he enrolled at Thisted Handelsgymnasium, part of EUC Nordvest, on the HHX higher commercial programme. To be clear: none of the sources we have checked – Wikipedia, TV Midtvest and other Danish media – say whether he finished the programme. We therefore do not claim that he graduated, and we have found no information about any further education.
Meanwhile he rode for Odder CK in 2014 and 2015, where Christian Moberg became his coach in 2015. As a young senior he struggled to move up from the C class to the A class in Danish racing because the results did not come. That changed in 2016, when he made the podium of an A race in Aalborg and won a round of the Pinse Cuppen in Hammel.
The fish factory job at Chrisfish in Hanstholm
In late May 2016 Jonas Vingegaard signed for the Danish Continental team ColoQuick. Sports director Christian "Gummi" Andersen wanted structure in the young rider's days and arranged a job for him at the Chrisfish factory in Hanstholm. In December 2017 DR described how he skinned fish from 6am to noon before heading out for the day's long training ride.
The combination of early shifts and training worked. In 2016 he finished second overall at the Tour of China, and in spring 2017 he was fourth at the French stage race Tour du Loir-et-Cher and won the young rider classification – shortly before breaking his femur at the Tour des Fjords.
The fish factory has become a fixed part of his story. It earned him the nickname "The Fisherman" abroad, and in 2026 the Italian press called him "Re Pescatore" – the Fisher King. According to Eurosport, Michael Valgren also worked at the same factory for a time while chasing a pro career. We have found that detail only at Eurosport and not confirmed it in a Danish source.
North-west Jutland is still his base. Today the family lives in the Glyngøre area in Salling – see where Jonas Vingegaard lives.
Early talent tests
According to Danish Wikipedia, citing TV 2, he climbed Alpe d'Huez in 42 minutes at the age of 16. But it was in 2018 that his numbers really made the big teams take notice:
- Coll de Rates, March 2018: on the 6.5 km test climb in Spain he set a record of 13:02 – 12 seconds faster than Tejay van Garderen, as TV 2 reported.
- Team Danmark, summer 2018: after a test, physiologist Lars Johansen told TV 2 that his heart was "in a class of its own", perhaps around 15 per cent better than the average Danish male rider.
In 2018 he also won the prologue of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta and the team time trial at the Tour de l'Avenir. From 2019 he rode for Jumbo-Visma. The rest of the road is in Jonas Vingegaard's career, and the short biography with his age and name is on the page about Jonas Vingegaard's age.
Questions about Jonas Vingegaard's education
What education does Jonas Vingegaard have?
He went to Hillerslev School and Tingstrup School, took the 10th grade at ISI Idrætsefterskole in Ikast and then enrolled on the HHX programme at Thisted Handelsgymnasium. Whether he completed HHX is not stated in the sources we have found.
Which boarding school did Jonas Vingegaard attend?
He attended the cycling line at ISI Idrætsefterskole in Ikast from August 2012, where he took the 10th grade.
Did Jonas Vingegaard finish upper secondary school?
That is not known. He studied HHX in Thisted, but none of the sources we have checked say whether he passed the final exam.
Where did Jonas Vingegaard work at a fish factory?
He worked at the Chrisfish factory in Hanstholm during his ColoQuick years from 2016, skinning fish from 6am to noon and training in the afternoon.
Did Michael Valgren also work at the fish factory?
According to Eurosport, Michael Valgren worked at the same factory for a time. We have not found a Danish source confirming it.