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Jonas Vingegaard Wins Tour de France, Completing His Sudden Ascent to Top

Vingegaard, 25, won cycling’s most prestigious race on his second attempt, setting up a new rivalry with the two-time champion he dethroned, Tadej Pogacar.

By Juliet Macur

PARIS — Head down and legs churning, Jonas Vingegaard crossed the finish line of the penultimate stage of the Tour de France on Saturday and cupped his hand over his mouth, as if to stifle a gasp. He had done what he had come to do, and his astonishing accomplishment was sinking in.

In only his second Tour de France, and only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Vingegaard, a 25-year-old Danish rider, had sealed his victory in cycling’s most prestigious race.

His victory became official on Sunday, when the race concluded with its traditional celebratory ride into Paris. But the Tour had been effectively over for days, and when Vingegaard finished second in Saturday’s time trial to his Jumbo-Visma teammate, Wout van Aert of Belgium, his effort on the 25-mile course was enough to leave him with such a large lead in the overall standings — 3 minutes 34 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer — that the final stage brought almost no drama at all.

Vingegaard steered clear of danger on the final laps in Paris, crossing — safely — alongside his teammates well behind the peloton. His winning time was 79 hours 33 minutes 20 seconds.

“We made a plan and we followed it 100 percent,” he said on the podium afterward . “And thanks to everyone in the team, behind the team. It has been really incredible journey for us and now we finally did it.”

After about three full weeks of the Tour, Vingegaard, as he had on Saturday, immediately sought out his partner and toddler daughter in the area past the finish line and gave them a long, sweaty hug.

While Vingegaard had pedaled up and down all the endless hills and unforgiving mountains, and across all the flat roads past fields of flowers and farms, he had wanted to win for them. During every day of searing heat that at times rose above 100 degrees, melting pavement and sidelining some riders with heat exhaustion, he said, he had steeled himself for them.

And, in the end, Vingegaard, who grew up in a small fishing town in northern Denmark, won what was arguably one of the most grueling Tours in history.

Tadej Pogacar, the Slovene rider looking for his third straight Tour win, finished second overall, 2:43 behind Vingegaard, after fighting Vingegaard for the lead until the race’s final days. Geraint Thomas of Britain, the 2018 Tour winner, was third, 7:22 off the pace. Every other rider was at least 13 minutes behind Vingegaard.

“I think the battle between me and Jonas was really something special,” Pogacar, 23, said Saturday, acknowledging the eventual outcome. He offered Sunday’s only hint of a surprise: a late sprint into the lead on Sunday’s final lap, though he was immediately reeled back into the lead group.

“It’s going to be an interesting couple of years ahead for us,” Pogacar said of his nascent rivalry with Vingegaard. “He’s stepped up from last year, he’s taken control of things from the beginning, and he’s proved he’s a strong rider.”

Going into this Tour, Pogacar most likely expected Vingegaard to be his greatest rival after Vingegaard’s improbable second-place finish last year.

In 2021, Jumbo-Visma’s top rider, Primoz Roglic, had dropped out of the Tour after a crash and Vingegaard took it upon himself to show what he could do . His performance was breathtaking — and unexpected. On the daunting Mont Ventoux, he left Pogacar behind to record one of the fastest times ever for that legendary climb.

Vingegaard’s entire career has been nothing short of a fairy tale played out on two wheels and on fast forward.

Six months before joining Jumbo-Visma in 2019, he was working part-time in a Danish factory where he gutted, cleaned and packed fish into ice-filled boxes. Before that, he worked at a fish auction. He credits those days of waking at 4 a.m. and all that hard manual labor in the shivering cold with helping him get to where he is now, at the top of the cycling world.

His Jumbo-Visma team, especially van Aert, was at his side all the way.

Van Aert had his own remarkable race, spending every day of the Tour except the first in the green jersey, which is awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points for stage finishes and in midrace sprint sections. But his biggest achievement over the past three weeks might have been his support of Vingegaard.

Van Aert was there for Vingegaard when his teammate needed him the most on the grueling Hautacam climb that turned out to be the deciding stage in the overall competition. He took off on a breakaway and mercilessly dictated a fast pace, challenging the notion, at 6-foot-3, that light, smaller riders like Vingegaard and Pogacar are naturally the best climbers.

Pogacar, who was battling Vingegaard for the overall lead, couldn’t keep up. As Vingegaard and van Aert kept climbing, Pogacar faded, looking like a car with a sputtering engine as the Jumbo-Visma teammates powered ahead.

The Jumbo-Visma team had won six of the Tour’s 20 stages entering Sunday’s finale. After Saturday’s stage, though, Vingegaard faced questions about his fairy-tale career. One reporter asked him about his rapid rise in the sport, and about how he could have finished 22nd in the 2019 Danish national time trial and then go on to nearly win Saturday’s time trial after three weeks of the Tour.

If Vingegaard was familiar at all with Tour history, or Danish racing history, it was possible that he expected the question. The only other Dane to win the Tour was Bjarne Riis in 1996, and a decade later Riis admitted that he had doped to win the race. Many past winners, though none recently, have either been caught doping or have admitted to doing so.

No, Vingegaard said, he did not go fast because he had doped. It happened because he and his team improved his aerodynamics by toiling in the wind tunnel and adjusting his body position and bike.

“We’re totally clean,” he said in his news conference, broadening his denial to include his entire team. “Every one of us. I can say that to every one of you. No one of us is taking anything illegal.”

High-altitude training camps and attention to detail — in food, in equipment, in preparation — were behind Jumbo-Visma’s rise, he said. “That’s why you have to trust,” he said.

Vingegaard appears to take sportsmanship seriously. On one descent during Stage 18, Pogacar crashed on a section of gravel as he and Vingegaard zoomed down a hill nearly side by side. But instead of taking advantage of Pogacar’s fall, Vingegaard waited for him down the road, allowing his rival to catch up .

After coming back together, Pogacar reached out in an expression of gratitude and the two clenched hands in a moment that will be replayed for years as an example of the good side of sports.

But only one of them was invited to climb atop the podium in Paris and celebrate on the Champs-Élysées. Only one got to pose for photos and family memories that will last a lifetime. And only one will be celebrated in his home country this summer as the king of cycling.

A series of ceremonies honoring Vingegaard already has been scheduled in Copenhagen, the city that hosted the start of this year’s Tour — the kickoff to Vingegaard’s ride to victory.

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Jonas Vingegaard, king of the mountains, wins Tour de France

Tour de France winner Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, second place Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, left, and third place Britain’s Geraint Thomas, celebrate on the podium after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (Etienne Garnier/Pool Photo via AP)

The pack with Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, passes the Louvre Museum during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (Bertrand Guay/Pool via AP)

Tour de France winner Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, flashes a thumbs up after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Tour de France winner Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, passes Arc de Triomphe during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, and Netherlands’ Bauke Mollema, right, ride during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

The pack with Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, passes the Louvre Museum during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (Pascal Rossignol/Pool via AP)

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, and Belgium’s Wout Van Aert, wearing the best sprinter’s green jersey, ride in the pack during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Britain’s Geraint Thomas crosses the finish line of the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Stage winner Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen, left, crosses the finish line ahead of second place Netherlands’ Dylan Groenewegen, far right, and third place Norway’s Alexander Kristoff, second right, during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Belgium’s Wout Van Aert, wearing the best sprinter’s green jersey, celebrates after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Tour de France winner Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, and teammates Belgium’s Wout Van Aert, wearing the best sprinter’s green jersey, Sepp Kuss of the U.S., far left, Belgium’s Tiesj Benoot, second left, ad France’s Christophe Laporte, right, celebrate as they cross the finish line of the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the best young rider’s white jersey, rides during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey and who also has the best climber’s dotted jersey, Belgium’s Wout van Aert of Belgium, wearing the best sprtinters green jersey, and Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the best young rider’s white jersey, ride during the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Stage winner Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen celebrates on the podium after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Tour de France winner Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (Etienne Garnier/Pool Photo via AP)

Stage winner Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen celebrates on the podium after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen celebrates after winning the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool Photo via AP)

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the best young rider’s white jersey, celebrates on the podium after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 116 kilometers (72 miles) with start in Paris la Defense Arena and finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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King of the mountains. Champion on the Champs-Elysees.

Jonas Vingegaard blossomed from a talented rookie to a dominant leader in his own right over three weeks of epic racing to win his first Tour de France title on Sunday.

The former fish factory worker from Denmark dethroned defending champion Tadej Pogacar with memorable performances in the mountains in cycling’s biggest race.

The 25-year-old Vingegaard, who was runner-up to Pogacar in his first Tour last year, excelled in the scorching heat that enveloped France this month and came out on top of a thrilling duel with Pogacar, the big favorite at the start of the race.

Jasper Philipsen won Sunday’s last stage — a mainly processional ride around Paris to the Champs-Elysees — in a sprint ahead of Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff.

Vingegaard competed last year as a replacement for Tom Dumoulin in the Jumbo-Visma squad. It was a revelation for Vingegaard as he realized that he could fight for the overall title after dropping Pogacar in the famed Mont Ventoux climb, but his Slovenian rival was at the top of his game and largely untouchable.

A year later, Vingegaard stood on top of the podium after building his triumph with two phenomenal rides in the Alps and the Pyrenees.

The official overall margin of victory was 2 minutes, 43 seconds but Vingegaard slowed down toward the end of the stage to celebrate with teammates, crossing well after Pogacar. Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour champion, was 7:22 off the pace in third.

Three weeks ago in Copenhagen, the Jumbo-Visma team started the race with two leaders — Vingegaard and three-time Spanish Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic. But Roglic’s challenge took a blow when he suffered a dislocated shoulder and lost more than two minutes to Pogacar on the cobbled fifth stage of the race, leaving Vingegaard in a sole leader’s role.

Vingegaard more than exceeded expectations from that moment.

He made his intentions clear in the first big mountain stage up the Col du Granon to seize the race leader’s yellow jersey from Pogacar, who fell more than two minutes behind that day. Having claimed the famed tunic during a stage featuring three monster Alpine climbs, Vingegaard kept it until the end.

With the help of teammates including the versatile Wout Van Aert, Vingegaard responded to the relentless attacks launched by Pogacar day in, day out. His supremacy in the mountains was such that, in addition to his overall win, Vingegaard also claimed the jersey for king of the mountains — not bad for a rider who comes from a country whose highest point is barely 170 meters above sea level.

Vingegaard and Pogacar were clearly in a class of their own this year as their closest rival, Thomas, was reduced to being a mere spectator in the leaders’ fight.

Vingegaard delivered his decisive blow in the Pyrenees, posting a second stage win at the Hautacam ski resort. There the Dane responded to a series of attacks from Pogacar and ultimately dropped the Slovenian in the last big mountain stage of this year’s race to increase his overall lead to more than three minutes.

Pogacar cracked about four kilometers (2 1/2 miles) from the finish in the final ascent, with his hopes of winning a third consecutive title all but over. He fought until the very end but Vingegaard was again the strongest in Saturday’s individual time trial to effectively secure the title.

“The battle between me and Jonas for the yellow jersey has been very special,” Pogacar said. “I think we have some very interesting next two or three years ahead of us. Jonas has stepped up his game this year.”

The light-framed Vingegaard is not perhaps as naturally gifted as Pogacar, who has shown over the past couple of years that he is capable of winning Grand Tours and the most prestigious one-day classics as well.

But Vingegaard surely learns fast.

Vingegaard did not experience his first ascent before he was already 16. His climbing skills would not remain unnoticed for long, though.

After he posted a record time on the Coll de Rates climb during a training camp in Spain with his former team ColoQuick, he joined Jumbo-Visma in 2019 and rapidly improved. In his first Tour last year, he showed proper leadership skills after Roglic crashed out of the race, and followed up with a cold-blooded ride to victory this summer.

The growing rivalry between Pogacar and Vingegaard has brought new race scenarios that have delighted fans.

Both men were equipped with strong teams capable of controlling the race in the mountains, an essential element that was a trademark of the mighty Ineos teams in the past decade. But on many occasions, both Pogacar and Vingegaard were left just relying on themselves in high altitude, fighting each other on equal terms.

Pogacar also brought a sense of old-fashioned romanticism with his long-range attacks. At 23, the UAE-Emirates Team has a bright future.

Vingegaard became the first Dane to win the Tour since Bjarne Riis achieved the feat in 1996 during a time when doping was widespread in cycling.

Following his retirement from cycling, Riis admitted in 2007 to using the blood-booster EPO from 1993-98, including during his Tour victory.

Asked whether his team should be trusted, Vingegaard said he and his teammates “are totally clean, every one of us.”

“No one of us is taking anything illegal,” he added. “I think why we’re so good is the preparation that we do. We take altitude camps to the next step.”

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Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wins the Tour de France for 2nd straight year

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Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France for a second straight year as cycling’s most storied race finished Sunday on the Champs-Élysées.

With a huge lead built up over main rival Tadej Pogačar, the 2020 and 2021 winner, Vingegaard knew the victory was effectively his again before the largely ceremonial stage at the end of the 110th edition of the Tour.

The 26-year-old Vingegaard drank champagne with his Jumbo-Visma teammates as they lined up together and posed for photos on the way to Paris.

“It’s been a long journey, yet it went by so fast,” Vingegaard said. “Day after day, it was a super hard race with a super nice fight between me and Tadej. I’ve enjoyed every day. I hope to come back next year and see if I can take a third win.”

It had been a three-week slog over 3,405 kilometers (2,116 miles) with eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges. Vingegaard seized control of the race over two stages in the Alps.

Little had separated the two rivals until Vingegaard finished a time trial 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Pogačar on Tuesday, then followed up the next day by finishing the toughest mountain stage of the race almost 6 minutes ahead of his exhausted rival.

“I’m dead,” Pogačar said.

The Slovenian rider responded by winning the penultimate stage on Saturday, but Vingegaard still had an insurmountable lead of 7 minutes, 29 seconds going into the final stage – a mostly ceremonial stage which is contested at the end by the sprinters.

“We have to be careful not to do anything stupid,” Vingegaard warned Saturday, “but yeah, it’s amazing to take my second victory in the Tour de France.”

Vingegaard kept that lead and was able to celebrate early Sunday as organizers decided to take the times one lap before the finish when it started raining on the cobblestones of the Champs-Élysées. The decision invited the sprinters to fight for the stage victory – the only remaining uncertainty.

Belgian cyclist Jordi Meeus prevailed in a photo finish between four riders on the line, just ahead of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and Mads Pedersen.

“It was my first Tour. It was a super nice experience already so far, and to take the win today is an indescribable feeling,” said Meeus, who clocked a top speed of 68.8 kph (42.8 mph) on the last kilometer.

Pogačar, who attacked after just one lap of eight altogether on the Champs-Élysées, was wearing the white jersey as the best young rider for the 75th day – extending a career Tour record. The 24-year-old Slovenian rider has won the best young rider classification every year since 2020.

But Pogačar had to be content with second place in the general classification again.

British rider Adam Yates, Pogačar’s teammate, finished third overall, ahead of his twin brother Simon.

Colombian rider Egan Bernal, the 2019 Tour winner, completed the race as he made his impressive comeback from a life-threatening crash. The 26-year-old Bernal said he narrowly avoided becoming paralyzed after an accident with a bus while training in Colombia in January 2022.

“It’s difficult to compare with the year I won but it’s almost the same feeling because for me it’s a great victory,” Bernal said. “Yesterday, in the last climb, I was so lucky I was alone and could enjoy the last kilometers. I was so emotional.”

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Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wins the Tour de France for the 2nd straight year

The Associated Press

Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France in Paris on Sunday. Thibault Camus/AP hide caption

Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, celebrates after the twenty-first stage of the Tour de France in Paris on Sunday.

PARIS — Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard has won the Tour de France for a second straight year as cycling's most storied race finished Sunday on the famed Champs-Élysées.

With a huge lead built up over main rival Tadej Pogačar, the 2020 and 2021 winner, Vingegaard knew the victory was effectively his again before the largely ceremonial stage at the end of the 110th edition of the Tour.

Vingegaard drank champagne with his Jumbo-Visma teammates as they lined up together and posed for photos on the way to Paris.

It had been a three-week slog over 3,405 kilometers (2,116 miles) with eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges. Vingegaard seized control of the race over two stages in the Alps.

Wout van Aert leaves Tour de France to be with pregnant wife: 'It's an easy decision'

Little had separated the two rivals until Vingegaard finished a time trial 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Pogačar on Tuesday, then followed up the next day by finishing the toughest mountain stage of the race almost 6 minutes ahead of his exhausted rival.

"I'm dead," Pogačar said.

The Slovenian rider responded by winning the penultimate stage on Saturday, but Vingegaard still had an insurmountable lead of 7 minutes, 29 seconds going into the final stage — a mostly ceremonial stage which is contested at the end by the sprinters.

"We have to be careful not to do anything stupid," Vingegaard warned Saturday, "but yeah, it's amazing to take my second victory in the Tour de France."

Belgian cyclist Jordi Meeus won the final stage in a photo finish between four riders on the line, just ahead of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and Mads Pedersen.

"It was my first Tour. It was a super nice experience already so far, and to take the win today is an incredible feeling," Meeus said.

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Jonas Vingegaard takes Tour de France glory and Pogacar’s aura of invincibility

• ‘We are totally clean,’ Dane insists of Jumbo-Visma team
• Geraint Thomas, third behind Pogacar, ponders one more Tour

From the Grand Départ in Copenhagen to the denouement in Paris, a besotted nation has been hanging on to Jonas Vingegaard’s coat tails. On Sunday, the Champs Élysées turned steadfastly Danish, with a dash of impetuous Slovenian and a hint of deadpan Welsh.

Vingegaard swept into Paris transported by his near-infallible Jumbo-Visma team to win the Tour de France at his second attempt, from defending champion Tadej Pogacar and the peloton’s Mister Consistency, Geraint Thomas, who took his third podium finish in four years.

Twelve months ago, it was Pogacar, the Slovenian prodigy leading the big-budget UAE Emirates team, who was expected to win serial yellow jerseys. Now however the landscape has changed and it is the unflappable Dane, and his big-budget team, who seem invincible.

As the Belgian Jasper Philipsen sprinted to his second stage win in the frenetic final dash to the line, Vingegaard and his teammates fanned out across the cobbles and joined arms, to bask in their success. With six stage wins and the yellow and green jerseys, some eye-watering climbing speeds and collective domination, it has been a remarkable performance.

Inevitably, in his traditional winner’s press conference, the new champion was asked if such complete command of the peloton, given the context of the sport, could be trusted. “We are totally clean, every one of us,” Vingegaard said.

“I can say that to every one of you. No one of us is taking anything illegal. I think why we’re so good is the preparation that we do.

“We take altitude camps to the next step. We do everything with material, food, and training. The team is the best within this. That’s why you have to trust.”

His teammate Wout van Aert, winner of Saturday’s final time trial in Rocamadour, was less receptive. “It’s a shit question,” he said. “Because we’re performing at this level, we have to defend ourselves. I don’t get it.

“Cycling has changed. I don’t like it that we keep on having to reply to this. We have to pass controls every moment of the year, not only at the Tour de France, also at our homes. If you just look through our team, how we’ve developed through these years, it hasn’t come from nowhere.”

The main victim of their collective strength was defending champion Pogacar, dominant and explosive himself in 2020 and 2021, who this year seemed, at times, a blunt instrument when compared to Vingegaard’s performance in the Tour’s summit finishes.

The Slovenian leader of the UAE Emirates team, who began winning major races as early as February and after winning two stages and his home national tour in June, seemed certain to be the rider to beat, showed flashes of immaturity that came back to haunt him.

The key moment came on the 11th stage to the Col du Granon, a high altitude trawl of some of the biggest Alpine passes, on which an isolated Pogacar misjudged his tactics, mugged for the TV cameras, but then paid for it moments later when he couldn’t respond to Vingegaard’s acceleration. After that, he was constantly on the back foot.

From there, Vingegaard was in control and could even survive the loss of two team mates, Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruiswijk , and accept Van Aert’s roving role, without showing any signs of being unnerved. Pogacar suffered the loss of key helpers, George Bennett and Rafal Majka, but it is debatable if either of those accomplished climbers would have changed the destiny of the maillot jaune .

Thomas, in what some believe to be the finest performance of his career, withstood all the sound and fury between the two main contenders, to grind out a vintage performance of character and resilience. In terms of winning the race, he was never in contention, but his experience, allied to his ability to keep his head when all around were sometimes losing theirs, rewarded him with third place, albeit more than seven minutes behind the winner.

Thomas was unclear if this would be his last Tour de France. “I don’t know,” he replied when asked. “I’ve got a contract to the end of next year. I might stop, I might do one more. I’m still enjoying the racing, I’m still enjoying this race, the biggest race in the world. Never say never. We’ll see.”

He reiterated too that he had always believed in himself. “The end of last year was really hard mentally for a number of reasons. When I started again it was steady, which is normal. I was confident if I kept working hard I could be in the mix. I never put a number on it. I always believed that I could be there or thereabouts. With regards to the team, it’s more a question for them. I’m just happy to be in the mix.”

As for the Tour itself, it sits uneasily in contemporary French culture. Lauded by President Macron for its continued significance to France’s sense of patrimoine , but increasingly globalised, it looked painfully out of touch at times this July.

When teenage climate protesters were brutally manhandled by senior race officials after blocking the path of stage 10, within sight of the disappearing glaciers of Haute Savoie, the disconnect between green machine and corporate juggernaut was laid bare.

There is no doubt that, as its popularity around the world grows with younger and more diverse audiences, the Tour will need to try harder.

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Jonas Vingegaard wins Tour de France for 2nd straight year

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Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France for the second straight year as cycling's most storied race finished Sunday on the famed Champs-Élysées in Paris.

With a huge lead built up over main rival Tadej Pogačar, the 2020 and 2021 winner, Vingegaard knew the victory was effectively his again before the largely ceremonial stage at the end of the 110th edition of the Tour.

Vingegaard drank champagne with his Visma-Jumbo teammates as they lined up together and posed for photos on the way to Paris.

"It's been an amazing year. What a Tour de France for us," Vingegaard said. "We started the plans early, and once again, I could not have done it without my team. It's been an amazing Tour for us, and I'm so proud of every one of us.

"Tonight we will celebrate, have a good dinner. It will be a nice evening. Thanks to my opponents, who have been amazing. It's been an amazing three weeks fighting with you guys."

It had been a three-week slog over 2,116 miles with eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges. Vingegaard seized control of the race over two stages in the Alps.

Little had separated the two rivals until Vingegaard finished a time trial 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Pogačar on Tuesday, then followed up the next day by finishing the toughest mountain stage of the race almost six minutes ahead of his exhausted rival.

"I'm dead," said the 24-year-old Pogačar, who won the white jersey as the best under-25 rider for the fourth year in a row.

The Slovenian rider responded by winning the penultimate stage Saturday, but Vingegaard still had an insurmountable lead of 7 minutes, 29 seconds going into the final stage -- a mostly ceremonial event that is contested at the end by the sprinters.

Belgian cyclist Jordi Meeus won the final stage in a photo finish between four riders on the line, just ahead of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and Mads Pedersen.

"It was my first Tour. It was a super-nice experience already so far, and to take the win today is an incredible feeling," Meeus said.

British cyclist and Pogačar teammate Adam Yates took third place overall, while Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen won the green jersey for the points classification and Italian competitor Giulio Ciccone took the polka-dot jersey for the mountains classification.

Vingegaard's Jumbo-Visma won the teams classification.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Tour de france stage winner mark cavendish appoints pr agency.

Mark Cavendish, one of the world’s most successful Tour de France stage winners, has hired a PR agency to oversee his farewell tour.

by Evie Barrett Added 7 hours ago

Mongoose, a London-based sports and entertainment integrated marketing agency, has been appointed by cyclist Mark Cavendish and his management agency, Areté.

The PR brief will focus on Cavendish’s farewell tour and final year on the bike, as the road racing cyclist attempts to break his own record this summer and become the solo record holder of the most stage wins in the Tour de France.

Mongoose and Arete look to promote the farewell tour through a comprehensive PR and social media campaign.

Cavendish is currently the joint most successful Tour de France stage cyclist, having achieved 34 stage wins since 2008. He holds this record alongside Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx, who gained the same number of wins between 1969 and 1975.

Areté founder and chief executive, Simon Bayliff, commented: “After a competitive pitch process, we are delighted to start working with Mongoose Sports and Entertainment. Their passion and creative ideas stood out and we’re excited to start the relationship.”

He added: “Throughout the process, Mark was consulted and he was impressed with the finer details Mongoose brought.”

Mongoose’s managing director of communications, Lucy I’Anson, added: “It's really exciting for Mongoose to partner with Areté to work on Mark Cavendish’s farewell tour. We’ve been longtime fans of Mark, his story is amazing and we cannot wait to help him share it in the way it deserves.”

The partnership begins immediately, with the build-up to the Tour de France being held from 29 June 2024 to 21 July 2024.

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Demi Vollering Inks Major Deal with Nike

The Tour de France Femmes winner becomes Nike’s newest sponsored athlete.

Via her Instagram account , Vollering announced that she signed the personal sponsorship deal with the megabrand this past Sunday. The photo showed the 27-year-old Dutch superstar presumably signing her contract with a caption that read:

“I am proud and grateful to have signed a partnership with Nike. With Nike’s support, I will pursue the dreams and goals I have set for the coming years. Furthermore, I am aware of my role within women’s cycling and women’s sports in general, and the opportunities it presents. Together with Nike, I can achieve common goals and effectively spread my message. We want to inspire many people to start moving, and together, we will make dreams come true.”

The details of the deal remain scarce, but Nike’s sponsorship of Vollering speaks volumes about the leaps and bounds women’s cycling has made over the last few seasons. And, after winning last year’s Tour de France Femmes and rumors about where she’ll land next season when her SD Worx-Protime contract runs out, Vollering is arguably the hottest property in women’s cycling.

From a wider perspective, Vollering’s deal with one of the biggest brands on the planet feels like yet another piece falling into place for women in sports. Just a few weeks ago, the brand signed young basketball superstar Caitlin Clark to a $28 million deal that includes a signature shoe. Women’s soccer around the world is booming. And interest in women’s cycling is at an all-time high .

On their surface, these connections might feel tenuous at best, but when approached from the perspective of marketing angles, they make a lot more sense. After all, young women around the world are seeing the results of years of efforts to build and grow women’s sports, whether it is cycling, basketball, or soccer. With Clark’s runaway success in America, the coming summer Olympics, and the booming popularity of women’s cycling, it feels like we’re standing at a watershed moment in women’s sports.

Nike had a major foray into cycling during the Lance Armstrong era. However, that relationship ended abruptly when the American’s doping tactics were revealed. Since then, Nike has mostly stayed out of the sport at large, though they do currently sponsor a few cyclists across a variety of disciplines. The most notable is Mark Cavendish , who wears Nike-branded cycling shoes.

Cav’s shoes are wholly custom and manufactured by a third party, however, as Nike’s only consumer cycling offerings currently are for indoor riding.

As Vollering’s SD Worx team is sponsored by Specialized, she’ll need to be granted special permission to wear Nikes in the peloton. The same will apply next year, with whichever team she ends up riding for.

Michael Venutolo-Mantovani is a writer and musician based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He loves road and track cycling, likes gravel riding, and can often be found trying to avoid crashing his mountain bike. 

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