50 meters behind the finish, following 3350 sweaty kilometers, Jonas Vingegaard jumped off his yellow bike, lifted it up in the air and celebrated:
The Tour of France has a new patron and Denmark has a tour winner once more following 26 years.
Flanked by his all-outstanding Jumbo-Visma team, Vingegaard previously enjoyed the triumphal procession down the Champs-Elysees in Paris. At the finish he cheered exuberantly, celebrated with his teammates and family and took his little daughter with him to the winner’s interview, beaming.
Tour de France
“Fucking question”: Van Aert reacts angrily to the topic of doping
ONE DAY AGO
Vingegaard promises: “We are all clean”
The night before, Vingegaard had suddenly become quite serious. The emaciated Tour de France winner in the yellow jersey had politely shared his feelings following the biggest win of his career, then the inevitable question of doping arose. Vingegaard replied emphatically – and in doing so made a promise to the thousands of fans in his native Denmark.
The problem at home: Danish cycling is still suffering from Riis’ actions.
When hundreds of thousands celebrated the Grand Depart in Copenhagen at the beginning of July and moved their new hopeful Vingegaard to tears at the team presentation in the sun-drenched Tivoli, the only Danish overall winner to date was not allowed to celebrate.
Tears at Vingegaard: Fans celebrate Denmark’s tour star frenetically
Vingegaard steps out of mother-in-law’s shadow
While at this point Vingegaard’s fame worldwide was manageable, he already had a big name in his homeland. However, that was not only due to his cycling prowess and surprising second place finish at the Tour of France 2021, but also to his mother-in-law, who rose to national fame following taking part in a TV back show and starring in Denmark’s version of ‘Dancing with the Stars” occurred.
The development was unforeseeable for Vingegaard, who comes from a fishing village with only 370 inhabitants. As a child he played handball and football and was a keen Liverpool fan. He only turned to cycling following watching the Tour of Denmark near his parents’ home.
As in the previous year, the youngster moved early to the front line at Jumbo-Visma on this tour following Primoz Roglic, the real challenger of defending champion Tadej Pogacar, was once more unable to keep up. As a result, Vingegaard had benefited from an unusual slump by Pogacar in the Alps when arriving at the Col du Granon, took 2:51 minutes from the Slovenian and thus snatched the maillot jaune.
Sensation at the Col du Granon! Vingegaard duped Pogacar
On the following stages, Vingegaard parried all the attacks of the former dominator and then made the preliminary decision in the last Pyrenees showdown. The freestyle followed on Saturday with second place in the individual time trial. “It’s great to be part of this journey. I’m proud of the whole team,” said Vingegaard.
He can’t lean back. He knows that Pogacar, who has been considered almost unbeatable for the past two years, will not let this tour pass. “He’s a great guy and one of the best drivers in the world. He’ll definitely want more,” said Vingegaard. But: “I also want more. Of course I’m still hungry.”
(SID)
Vingegaard fights back tears: “It means everything to me”
Tour de France
Three things that stood out: Vingegaard makes a winning statement
20 HOURS AGO
Tour de France
“Fucking question”: Van Aert reacts angrily to the topic of doping
ONE DAY AGO
