Jumbo-Visma’s dominance at this Tour de France was so extreme that Jonas Vingegaard could afford to slow down in the final kilometres of Saturday’s time trial to Rocamadour to concede stage victory to his teammate Wout van Aert. In a Tour with more than a hint of déjà vu, this was something jarringly new.
Van Aert’s victory brought Jumbo-Visma’s tally for this race to six, a figure that might yet increase to seven on the Champs-Élysées. In Paris on Sunday evening, Vingegaard will be feted as the Tour champion, and he will also be crowned king of the mountains. Van Aert will don the green jersey, and he will also be awarded the red dossard as the race’s most combative rider.
Given the history of this sport, of this race and, indeed, of a team that emerged from the ashes of the notorious Rabobank project, it is only logical to gaze upon this supremacy and ask the blindingly-obvious question: can we believe in what we’re seeing?
Vingegaard grew up during an era when Danish cycling was asking itself difficult questions about the doping of its golden generation of the 1990s. He could probably have guessed that such a query would feature at some point during his Tour winner’s press conference on Saturday evening, and his response was delivered with his usual calm.
“We are totally clean, every one of us, and I can say that to every one of you,” Vingegaard said. “Not one of us is taking anything illegal. I think why we are so good is because of the preparation we do. We take altitude camps to the next level, and everything: materials, food and training. I think the team is really the best in this. That’s why you have to trust us.”
A few minutes later, Vingegaard’s stablemate Van Aert sat in the same chair and had a rather less-equable response to a similar question. His penchant for super-combativity, it seems, is not restricted to when he’s aboard his bike.
“I don’t want to answer this question. It’s such a shit question. It comes back every time someone wins the Tour,” Van Aert complained.
For the second Tour running, Van Aert has won three stage in three different ways. He also wore the yellow jersey for four days and repeatedly shattered the peloton with early attacks. The zenith of his all-action Tour came on stage 18, when Van Aert attacked from kilometre zero to form the early break and then delivered the decisive turn to drop Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on the final climb to Hautacam.
“So now because we’re…
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