Dane Vingegaard to start season at Paris-Nice in March

Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard announced on Monday that he will begin his 2026 season next month at the Paris-Nice stage race.

The 29-year-old had been due to start his campaign last week at the UAE Tour but a training crash in Spain on January 26 forced him to change plans.

He also crashed last year during Paris-Nice and was forced to abandon the race ahead of the sixth stage, while sitting second in the overall standings behind Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Matteo Jorgenson.

“I am excited to be at the start of Paris-Nice once again,” Vingegaard said in a statement released by his team.

“As a team, we have a title to defend here.

“After crashing and falling ill, I took the necessary time to recover. Now I feel ready to start racing again.”

Vingegaard finished third at Paris-Nice in 2023 behind Slovenian rival Tadej Pogacar and France’s David Gaudu.

Jorgenson then won the race in the following two years but is not part of the Visma team this time around.

Paris-Nice will run from March 8-15, with Spaniard Juan Ayuso and Portugal’s Joao Almeida expected to provide stiff competition for Vingegaard.

The Dane will then head to the Volta a Catalunya from March 23-29.

The first of his major objectives for the season is May’s Giro d’Italia, after which he will try to dethrone Pogacar at the Tour, seeking to add to his 2022 and 2023 successes.