Vingegaard wins in France
Dane morphs from talented rookie to dominant leader
King of the mountains. Champion on the Champselysees. 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 yesterday.
The former fish factory worker from Denmark dethroned defending champion Tadej Pogacar with memorable performances in the mountains in cycling’s biggest race.
Vingegaard, 25, 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 favourite at the start of the race.
Jasper Philipsen won yesterday’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 realised 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 2m 43s but Vingegaard slowed 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 threetime Spanish Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic. But Roglic’s challenge took a hit when he dislocated his shoulder and lost more than 2m to Pogacar on the cobbled fifth stage, 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 yellow jersey from Pogacar, who fell more than 2m behind that day. Having claimed the famed leader’s tunic during a stage with three monster Alpine climbs, Vingegaard kept it until the end.
With the help of teammates including the versatile Wout Van Aert, Vingegaard responded to Pogacar’s relentless attacks day in, day out. His supremacy in the mountains was such that, in addition to his overall win, Vingegaard was also king of the mountains — not bad for a rider whose home country’s highest point is barely 170m 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 to increase his overall lead to more than 3m. Pogacar
cracked about 4km 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 Sunday’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. He did not experience his first ascent until he was 16.
But 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 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 many times Pogacar and Vingegaard were left relying only 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 Uaeemirates Team has a bright future.
Vingegaard became the first Dane to win the Tour since Bjarne Riis won in 1996, 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 if 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.” —AP