Jonas Vingegaard explains the thinking behind his DIY Paris-Nice bib tights
Jonas Vingegaard stormed to an impressive win at Paris-Nice on Wednesday, surviving an onslaught from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and truly bleak conditions to take the stage win and race lead.
But Vingegaard’s choice of foul-weather clothing and how he wore it arguably drew more attention than the win itself.
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Unsurprisingly, Vingegaard wore the extra bibtights to keep warm, and explained his plan was to rip the pre-prepared extra bibtights off as the race progressed.
“To keep me warm in the beginning, I wore the extra-long pants. We prepared the bibs so that two teammates could easily rip them off.
“After that, I could just take the parts on my legs off like leg warmers. In the end, the race was so hard that there were never two teammates around to tear the bibs off,” he explained.
There we have it, Vingegaard pre-cut the extra bib tights at the rear to ensure team mates could more easily rip them, and remove them deeper into the race. The brutal nature of the stage, however, meant they stayed on until the end.
Comments sections reacted with mirth after seeing the Dane’s kit choice, but it was the two-time Tour de France winner who had the last laugh as he crossed the finish line alone to win the stage. The huge time gaps on Stage 4 of the Race to the Sun highlighted just how hard it had been.
Vingegaard’s multiple layers to stay warm did what they needed to on a horrible day. Anyone who has frozen in a bike race or been going so hard they could barely reach into a pocket for a gel will know how hard it is to do the basics sometimes when the race is on.
And for a man who will have fresh memories of his recent training crash, anything that helps him maintain extra control over his bike will be an important upgrade, no matter how rudimentarily put together
Over the years, cycling champions have often appeared to wear more clothing than the rest of the peloton during races. Seeming comfortable enough not to need to remove outer layers, Tom Boonen keeping his leg warmers on in the early season spring classics when the rest of the bunch were in shorts and jersey springs to mind.
Yesterday seemed more about keeping warm, and Vingegaard’s clothing plan aligned with Mathieu van der Poel’s strategy to wear more at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to keep warm.
Foul-weather clothing is very good now, but sometimes it seems old school, or even DIY methods work just as well.
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