Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar – Rivals and Team-mates

Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar have shared the last six editions of the Tour de France between them, and in the Grand Tours they have both started the score is 2–4 in the Slovenian's favour. Vingegaard won the Tour in 2022 and 2023, Pogačar in 2021, 2024, 2025 and 2026 – yet the Dane was first to win all three Grand Tours. This is the Vingegaard vs Pogačar rivalry year by year, plus the team-mates who made his wins possible: Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert and Primož Roglič.

Jonas Vingegaard vs Tadej Pogačar in the Grand Tours

The two have only met at the Tour de France: Pogačar has never ridden a Giro or a Vuelta alongside Vingegaard, so all their Grand Tour duels took place in France between 2021 and 2026.

DNF = abandoned. Source: ProCyclingStats, Wikipedia.

The gaps show how far ahead of the rest they are: in 2022 third-placed Geraint Thomas was 7:22 behind Vingegaard, in 2023 Adam Yates was 10:56 down. Pogačar has won the Tour five times, Vingegaard 2 times. But with the 2025 Vuelta and the 2026 Giro, Vingegaard became the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours – before Pogačar.

Key moments of the rivalry

It began on Mont Ventoux in 2021, when Vingegaard became the first rider to drop Pogačar on a climb, even though he was caught on the descent. A year later, on stage 11 to the Col du Granon, he dropped him again, gaining 2:51 and the yellow jersey. On stage 18 to Hautacam Pogačar crashed on a descent; Vingegaard waited, the two shook hands, and the Dane went on to win the stage.

In 2023 came the two days that perhaps define the duel: the Combloux time trial, won by Vingegaard by 1:38, and the Col de la Loze the next day, where Pogačar cracked. In 2024 Vingegaard won a two-man sprint at Le Lioran three months after his terrible crash, but Pogačar won the Tour; in 2025 Pogačar followed every attack on Mont Ventoux and the Col de la Loze. In 2026 Vingegaard took yellow after the Barcelona team time trial, Pogačar took it on stage 3 and pulled away on the Tourmalet. Before stage 15 both were woken for night-time doping tests – Vingegaard around 2am, Pogačar around 5am – and Pogačar later speculated that lack of sleep may have played a part in the Dane's crash that day. Full details on our Tour de France page.

The numbers: ProCyclingStats head-to-head

Across all races they have both ridden, ProCyclingStats' comparison has Pogačar finishing ahead 68.8 per cent of the time and Vingegaard 31.2 per cent (as of 25 October 2026). Pogačar has 130 professional wins to Vingegaard's 54, partly because Pogačar also wins one-day races and Classics while Vingegaard has focused on stage races. The comparison is on procyclingstats.com. In week-long races Pogačar won Paris–Nice in 2023, with Vingegaard third, and the 2025 Dauphiné, with Vingegaard second at 59 seconds.

Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard

American Sepp Kuss was his key mountain domestique when he won the Tour in 2022 and 2023; on Hautacam in 2022 Vingegaard followed Kuss's pace for most of the final climb before attacking. At the 2023 Vuelta the roles were reversed: Kuss got into a breakaway on stage 6 and took red. Vingegaard won stages 13 and 16 and got within 8 seconds, but the team let Kuss win – Kuss first, Vingegaard second at 17 seconds, Roglič third. The full story is on our Vuelta page. Kuss later extended his contract, won the queen stage of the 2026 Giro while Vingegaard won the race, and after the 2026 Tour crash said a Tour comeback was already on Vingegaard's mind.

Wout van Aert – the helper in green

Belgian Wout van Aert was one of the keys to the 2022 Tour win. On stage 5 over the cobbles, when Vingegaard had a mechanical, Van Aert's powerful effort near the end helped limit his losses. On stage 18 to Hautacam he attacked from the start, and when Vingegaard and Pogačar caught him on the final climb he rode for his leader. Van Aert won the green jersey that year with a modern-record 480 points and was named most combative rider; one team won yellow, green and the mountains jersey for the first time since 1969. In the 2023 Combloux time trial Van Aert held the best time until Pogačar finished – before Vingegaard beat them both.

Primož Roglič – from leader to co-leader

When Vingegaard joined Jumbo-Visma in 2019, Primož Roglič was the team leader. At the 2020 Vuelta, Vingegaard's first Grand Tour, he rode for Roglič, who won. At the 2021 Tour the plan was the same until Roglič crashed out. Roglič then beat him into second place at the 2021 Tour of the Basque Country and the 2022 Dauphiné, they were co-leaders at the 2023 Vuelta, where Roglič finished third, and both were caught in the 2024 Basque Country crash that put Vingegaard in hospital. His whole career is on our career page.

Michael Valgren and the fish factory

In his ColoQuick years from 2016 Vingegaard worked at the Chrisfish factory in Hanstholm, skinning fish from 6am to noon and training in the afternoon. According to Eurosport, Michael Valgren, who was also chasing a professional career, worked at the same factory for a time; we have not found the story confirmed elsewhere. More on those years on our education and early life page. On the road, the two last met at the 2026 Giro, where Valgren won stage 17 to Andalo in the race Vingegaard won overall.