Jonas Vingegaard

Jonas Vingegaard of the Jumbo-Visma team wrapped up victory in the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

I’m still enjoying the racing, I’m still enjoying this race, the biggest race in the world. As for the Tour itself, it sits uneasily in contemporary French culture. I was confident if I kept working hard I could be in the mix. 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 eight minutes behind the winner. I’m just happy to be in the mix.” We have to pass controls every moment of the year, not only at the Tour de France, also at our homes. 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. I don’t like it that we keep on having to reply to this. Twelve months ago, it was Pogacar, the Slovenian prodigy leading the big-budget UAE Emirates team, who was expected to win serial yellow jerseys. On Sunday, the Champs Élysées turned steadfastly Danish, with a dash of impetuous Slovenian and a hint of deadpan Welsh. The team is the best within this. With six stage wins and the yellow and green jerseys, some eye-watering climbing speeds and collective domination, it has been a remarkable performance.

Jonas Vingegaard won his first Tour de France title after coming out on top of a thrilling three-week duel with defending champion Tadej Pogacar.

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. Vingegaard delivered his decisive blow in the Pyrenees, posting a second stage win at the Hautacam ski resort. 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. With the help of teammates including the versatile Wout Van Aert, Vingegaard responded to the relentless attacks launched by Pogacar day in, day out. Vingegaard competed last year as a replacement for Tom Dumoulin in the Jumbo-Visma squad. Having claimed the famed tunic during a stage featuring three monster Alpine climbs, Vingegaard kept it until the end.

Jonas Vingegaard sealed his maiden Tour de France victory on Sunday, riding into Paris to cap a dominant display from his Jumbo-Visma team.

He is only the second Australian to achieve the ‘honour’ – 91 years after Melbourne rider Richard Lamb finished last out of 35 finishers. After all, 38 riders didn’t even make it to the 21st and final stage after this most brutal of Tours. Vingegaard finished 3 minutes, 34 seconds ahead of second-place Pogacar and claimed both the yellow jersey and the polka dot jersey for mountains points. But with the help of his girlfriend Trine Hansen – herself a world champion rower – and his team management, he began to manage his nerves better and his composure was key to his progression. The Dutch team led the way into the Champs-Elysees on Sunday, but they stayed at the back of the peloton in the final straight as Vingegaard and his teammates enjoyed the moment. Pogacar hit back time and time again, but Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma team contained the feisty Slovenian, and the yellow jersey sealed his title when he claimed another win on the Hautacam – the final mountain stage.

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard becomes the first man from his country to win the Tour de France since Bjarne Riis in 1996.

That we could finish a Tour like this is the cherry on the cake." "This will take a while to realise. Jonas Vingegaard has come home safely to win the Tour de France in Paris while Jasper Philipsen powered to victory in the final stage on the Champs-Elysees.

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France on Sunday, ending the reign of two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar after a gruelling three weeks and ...

But the stars aligned against Pogacar when he lost teammates to Covid and injury. Their epic struggle was highlighted by a moment of sportsmanship when Pogacar fell at high speed and Vingegaard waited for him to catch up, the pair clasping hands briefly in a memorable image from one of the best modern editions of the Tour. Packed ranks of Danes in front of the podium began to chant his name as he thanked “the two girls in my life”, a reference to his partner and daughter. Vingegaard was born in December 1996 and raised in Hillerslev, a fishing village of just 370 inhabitants, in a completely flat landscape on the shores of the North Sea. “We had a plan and we followed it to the letter, all my teammates outdid themselves,” added the champion. Vingegaard also hailed teammate Wout van Aert as “phenomenal” and “the best rider in the world”, as he was flanked by second-placed Pogacar and 2018 champion Geraint Thomas, who was third.

Last year I bumped into Vingegaard's parents at the start of a stage on their son's way to sealing a surprise second overall in the Tour de France. They were ...

“First of all I just want to celebrate this one,” he said of future plans. “I knew from last year I had the level to compete for the victory but still to take it is something different. One thing Vingegaard will definitely see is the many Danes apparently driving over to Paris to celebrate their champion on the Champs-Élysées. It’s been three incredible weeks but the start in Denmark I will always remember.” We also made plans for if I got nervous, then usually I would wake up early in the morning and she would say get out of bed no matter what time it is, 5 am or 8 am, just get the day going. Danes love an underdog and Vingegaard, child-like in appearance, was the perfect have-a-go hero in the shadow of the seemingly unbeatable two-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar. “I didn’t have the feeling I was taking big risks and I think I just made a mistake going into the corner. Then maybe she pushed me into situations to confront them and then you slowly grow, you get more hair on the chest you could say. For the time trial they were finally there to greet him on the finish line. The slight irony is that although Vingegaard is two years older than his rival Tadej Pogačar, he’s still only 25 and won the yellow jersey at only the second time of asking. He’s a quiet person, not willing, at least for now, to share who he is off the bike with outsiders. Any intrusion into what he’s like, what music he listens to or what he does in his spare time is batted away during the press conference.