The 2022 Tour de France is, barring disaster, going to be won by Jonas Vingegaard in Paris after he confirmed his grip on the yellow jersey in the time trial to Rocamadour. The 25-year-old put in a superb showing to finish second on the stage behind teammate Wout van Aert, the pair celebrating together past the finish line.
Vingegaard made a beeline for his partner and daughter, hugging the pair as a scrum of media formed around him. It was an emotional moment for the Dane, who had always been quite closed off around questions of potentially winning the race overall and staying reserved in presentations.
After the finish, that barrier was down, and he explained his feelings about taking the landmark win in his career.
“It means everything to me,” said Vingegaard. “It’s really incredible. It’s hard for me to put words on it. It’s the biggest win in cycling. Having my two girls [girlfriend Trine and daughter Frida] on the finish line meant even more to me.”
It was nearly going to be a lot more dramatic ride, as Vingegaard suffered a little wobble on a descent which saw him round a corner wide, perilously close to a rock wall.
“I almost had a heart attack when that happened,” said Vingegaard. “I had the feeling that I was not taking big risks. I think I just made a mistake going into the corner, it was quite a bumpy road and I couldn’t correct. In the end I saved it and I’m quite happy about that.”
Vingegaard lost to Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) by five minutes and 20 seconds last year and the margin currently stands at three minutes and 34 seconds in favour of Vingegaard, with both victories decisive. The key stages of 11 to Col du Granon and 18 to Hautacam will go down in the history books as the first time Pogačar was bested significantly on a climb and sets up a match-up for years to come, with Vingegaard the elder at just 25 years of age.
“Since last year, I always believed I could do it,” said Vingegaard. “It’s a relief that I did. I’m just so happy and proud.
“What happened two years ago [Primoz Roglic losing the yellow jersey in the closing time trial], we always thought about it and we didn’t want it to happen again. We just wanted to go for it today. I wanted as good a stage result as possible.”
Wout van Aert was in tears post-race, but not due to his own result, instead speaking of his pride at being part of a Tour de France winning team. Van Aert famously watched dead-faced as Pogačar competed his amazing turnaround over Primož Roglič in the 2020 race. Again in 2022, it was a penultimate stage time trial, but disaster didn’t strike and van Aert had tears of joy.
“It just shows how close everyone is in this team,” said Vingegaard on van Aert. “It’s a special thing we have in this team: everyone is so happy for each other. I’m also really happy for Wout to win today. These guys are my true friends, brothers I would say.
“I guess we can celebrate tonight. It’s special for the whole Jumbo-Visma team and for Denmark as well. I don’t read the media so I don’t know how crazy it is, but I can guess.”
The Tour de France continues with the traditional final stage procession into Paris, the final circuits on the Champs-Élysées an expected day for the sprinters. Watch Stage 21 on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker from 12.20am AEST, with the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast to start from 12.25am AEST.
