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

Vingegaard has won for a second straight year as cycling’s most storied race finished on the famed Champs-Élysées

Published - July 23, 2023 11:45 pm IST - PARIS

Jumbo-Visma’s Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey (third from left) celebrates his overall victory with teammates as he cycles to the finish line after the 21st and final stage of the 110th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 115 km between Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and the Champs-Elysees in Paris, on July 23, 2023.

Jumbo-Visma’s Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey (third from left) celebrates his overall victory with teammates as he cycles to the finish line after the 21st and final stage of the 110th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 115 km between Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and the Champs-Elysees in Paris, on July 23, 2023. | Photo Credit: AFP

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.

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.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.