The fastest Tour de France in history ended as it began, on an avenue awash with the red and white flag of Denmark. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) was a contender when the race set out in the drizzle in Copenhagen three weeks ago, but perhaps not even he truly believed he would have dethroned Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) by the time the Tour had reached Paris three weeks later.
“I always had the feeling that I could at least fight for the win,” Vingegaard said as he awaited the podium ceremony on Sunday evening.
Denmark’s lone previous Tour winner, Bjarne Riis, was deemed persona non grata at the Grand Départ in Copenhagen due to his doping past, but he could hardly be ignored during the race itself. The mountain synonymous with his 1996 victory proved to be the site where Vingegaard all but confirmed his overall win.
“In the end, it was after Hautacam when I really started believing. I mean, I always believed in it, but Hautacam was the point when I thought something had to go wrong for me not to win,” said Vingegaard, who shook his head in disbelief as he contemplated his achievement.
Four years ago, he was still working part-time, icing fish in a factory in Hanstholm on the North Sea coast. He turned professional with Jumbo-Visma the following season but his career only accelerated in early 2021, when he won a stage of the UAE Tour.
Last July, when Primoz Roglic was forced out of the Tour de France by a crash, Vingegaard stepped up to the mark to place second overall behind the unassailable Pogačar, but the Slovenian’s yellow jersey must have felt as distant as the light of a far-off fire. Vingegaard moved considerably closer to the flame in the twelve months since. On this Tour, he matched Pogačar when he needed and, crucially, he dropped him on the Col de Granon and at Hautacam.
“It’s just incredible. It’s the biggest cycling race of the year, the biggest one you can win and now I’ve won it,” Vingegaard said. “No one can take this away from me.”
A few minutes later, Vingegaard was ushered towards the podium. After receiving the polka dot jersey of king of the mountains, he returned to the dais to be hailed as the winner of the 2022 Tour, with Pogačar and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) by his side.
Cradling his infant daughter in one arm, Vingegaard was handed a microphone to address the multitudes, a tradition that started when Lance Armstrong was offered the chance to make a valedictory speech after his seventh…
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