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BARCELONA, Spain, July 2 (Reuters) - Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard is bidding to become only the ninth rider in history to get the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double in the same year but will need to dethronefour-time Tour winner Tadej Pogacar when the race starts in Barcelona on Saturday.
Vingegaard claimed his first Giro victory in May, becoming, on his first time in the race, the eighth man to win all three Grand Tours.
"I have had a very good season so far already with the three races I have done," the Dane told a press conference on Thursday. "Of course, it takes some pressure off me and off the team.
"But the Tour de France is still the biggest race. It is still the race you really want to win."
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider has won all three of his 2026 outings: Paris-Nice, the Tour of Catalunya, and the Giro d'Italia, where he also got five stage wins.
Vingegaard seized the Giro pink jersey on Stage 14 and went into the final week with a significant margin over his closest rival, allowing him to manage his efforts in the later stages.
"Without taking anything away from anyone from the Giro, it is true that I did not have to completely kill myself. I did not get out of the Giro completely on my knees," Vingegaard said.
"I came out of the Giro in a good way and pretty quickly I could start building towards the Tour de France."
The 29-year-old rider enters the Tour close to the shape that allowed him to win the world's most prestigious cycling race in 2022 and 2023.
"I feel both better and stronger. I would even say happier in a mental state also," Vingegaard said when asked to compare himself with last year.
"I think I am ready for this race and I am really looking forward to it. It has been an amazing year for me so far. I am looking forward to hopefully continuing it."
(Reporting by Vincent Daheron in Barcelona; editing by Clare Fallon)
