Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) dethroned Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who immediately announces revenge. It was a tour of missed opportunities for the Germans.
Jonas Vingegaard received a kiss from his girlfriend Trine, dressed all in yellow, directly behind the finish line, and shortly afterwards he was beaming from the podium in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe with his daughter Frida in his arms.
Vingegaard's dream journey at the Tour de France
On the Champs Élysees boulevard in Paris, the lanky boy from the fish factory in Jutland completed his dream journey to the frenetic cheers of thousands of compatriots in red and white on Sunday. 26 years after Bjarne Riis' now tainted triumph, Danish dynamite reigned once again at the Tour de France in Paris.
"It's been an incredible three weeks, a dream," said Vingegaard after dethroning the seemingly invincible defending champion Tadej Pogacar.
Tour d'Honneur with champagne
After 3343.8 kilometres, Vingegaard had reached the destination of his dreams. He had already enjoyed a glass of champagne on his Tour d'Honneur.
"That was incredible. Now I've done it, nothing can happen anymore. This is the biggest bike race in the world. You can't achieve anything bigger, nobody can take it away from me," said the Dane and was delighted with the home race in Paris: "So many Danes have come here to see me. I really appreciate that."
Vingegaard has not yet had enough
This is how the tour was experienced, which on Sunday with the victory of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the sprint royale ahead of Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange) and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert), the transformation of a man once plagued by self-doubt and nervousness into a confident winner.
He showed no weaknesses in the Alps and Pyrenees - and has long been hungry for more. "I want to win even more," said the 25-year-old, who also showed himself to be a great sportsman when he waited for Pogacar after his crash in the mountains. "We have a good relationship. We're not friends, but we respect each other."
Pogacar hot for revenge
So the Tour can look forward to more great duels. Because Pogacar - this time in second place, just under three minutes behind - is also keen for a rematch.
"A lot of people want to see a different winner. It's not so bad to swap places. I have found a stronger opponent. That gives me motivation to be better next year," said the Slovenian, who is two years younger and whose team had been decimated by several coronavirus cases.
Geschke rides his way into the hearts of the fans
Vingegaard and his Jumbo-Visma team with three-time stage winner and all-rounder Wout van Aert practically crushed the competition. Simon Geschke (Cofidis), whose dream of becoming the first German mountain king was shattered in Paris on the final stage of the Pyrenees. In the meantime, the tears of the man with the full beard have dried.
"I think I put on a nice show. It seems that I have gained a lot of fans. I obviously haven't done everything wrong over the last few weeks," said Geschke, who was crowned "winner of the hearts" by compatriot Nils Politt.
Tour de France of missed opportunities
So it was a tour of missed opportunities for the smallest German group of nine riders in 20 years. Missing out on the yellow jersey were Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) in Megeve only a tiny eleven secondsand the North German missed out on the stage win in La Planche des Belles Filles by less than 100 metres. Nevertheless, Kämna, who had dropped out after the second rest day due to a cold, was one of the winners among the German riders.
For the first time since 2019, there was no German stage win. The hosts were not much better, only celebrating on the third-last day and averting the biggest fiasco since 1999. Little Denmark celebrated instead. With the tailwind of the atmospheric Grand Départ, which fittingly took place in Copenhagen, there were four stage wins by Vingegaard, former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education EasyPost).
Not the first cycling boom in Denmark
This is not the first cycling boom that the country from the far north has experienced. The last two times ended in great disillusionment. Riis later admitted to doping during his triumph in the course of the Telekom scandal and Michael Rasmussen was pulled out of the yellow jersey shortly before the end in 2007 and sent home because he had given the doping inspectors false whereabouts. He also later confessed to doping.
If you believe Vingegaard, times have changed. "We are totally clean. Every one of us. I can speak for the whole team. None of us are taking anything illegal," said the new Tour patron. Rasmussen, now a journalist in the Tour squad, spoke of a "nonsensical question". He knows of no active rider who would confess to something on camera.
17 corona cases at the Tour de France
The Tour has not registered a doping case since 2015, but there have been 17 coronavirus cases this year. As in society, this is now normality due to the easing of restrictions. For example, four-time Tour champion Chris Froome and German Max Walscheid only experienced the Tour final at home in front of the TV.
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