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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)