Who can beat Pogacar?
Before the start of the 109th edition of the Tour de France, there was one big question: who would end the winning streak of the precocious Tadej Pogacar? The Slovenian entered the Grand Départ in Copenhagen as a two-time winner of the world's most important cycling race - at the tender age of 23. By the end of the three weeks, he had found his champion in the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, who clearly distanced the supposed unbeatable on two mountain stages - as a final highlight, the new man in yellow stormed to stage victory at the last mountain arrival in Hautacam (see photo).
Denmark celebrates & inspires at the Tour de France 2022
The three days at the start of the Tour were a delight: In Denmark, cycling fans lined up in thick rows along the route - and Magnus Cort Nielsen put on a one-man show for his fellow countrymen. On the undulating roads of Denmark, the professional cyclist from Team EF Education-EasyPost busily collected mountain points with long breakaway attempts.
And he set a record: For the first time, a professional cyclist won eleven mountain classifications in a row - even if they all only belonged to the lowest category, the fourth. He had to hand over the mountain jersey to Simon Geschke after stage 9. However, Cort Nielsen later won the mountain stage to Megève in the sprint of a breakaway group.
Bad cards for the sprinters
Here I am: Fabio Jakobsen (Team Quick-Step-Alpha Vinyl) took victory in the first bunch sprint in Nyborg/Denmark on his first Tour appearance. The 25-year-old Dutchman had suffered life-threatening injuries in a serious crash at the Tour of Poland 2020 and fought his way back into the professional peloton. Jakobsen finished last on the 17th stage through the Pyrenees - a full 15 seconds ahead of the time limit.
There was little to celebrate for the sprinters at this Tour - in total, only four stages of this Grande Boucle ended in a real bunch sprint. After Jakobsen, the Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was the fastest twice and the Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) once. Mark Cavendish, outstanding last year with four stage wins, was not included by his team Quick-Step. This meant that the 37-year-old Briton had no chance of bettering his own record of 34 stage wins - he still shares the mark with Eddy Merckx.
Unlucky Lennard Kämna
Fierce: After his day's victory at the Giro d'Italia In May, Lennard Kämna also went stage racing in the Tour of France. On the seventh day of the race, he reached the last ramp on the way to the finish on the Super Planche des Belles Filles in first place as a breakaway rider. However, Tadej Pogacar stormed past on the gravelled and up to 24 per cent steep section at the mountain arrival in the Vosges and snatched the stage win from the rider from Bremen by 14 seconds.
That was disappointment number one. On stage 10, Kämna, part of a breakaway group, waited almost nine minutes at the finish for the peloton to arrive with the favourites around Tadej Pogacar and was disappointed again: eleven seconds were missing to slip into the yellow jersey. "I think I could have ridden into the yellow jersey if I had done everything right. But there were a few tactical mistakes, which really hurt in the end," said Kämna in an interview with Radio Bremen. He had to give up before the 16th stage due to a cold.
Offensive & versatile: Team Jumbo-Visma at the Tour de France 2022
Big attack: Team Jumbo-Visma took defending champion Pogacar by the scruff of the neck on the 11th stage from Albertville to the Col du Granon. Primoz Roglic and team-mate Jonas Vingegaard (in the foreground) took it in turns to attack the man in the yellow jersey very early on in the ride over the Col de Télégraphe and Col du Galibier, but it was impossible to shake him off. First.
On the final climb to the Col du Granon, where Bernard Hinault once lost the 1986 Tour de France to Greg Lemond, Pogacar collapsed - he had had to invest too much energy as a lone fighter against the jumbo superiority. Vingegaard stormed to stage victory and the yellow jersey.
All-rounder Pidcock wins in Alpe d'Huez
Acrobatic and risky: Tom Pidcock, Olympic mountain bike champion and reigning cyclocross world champion, also masters the riding technique on narrower tyres. The professional cyclist from Team Ineos Grenadiers attacked on the descent from the Col du Galibier, storming forward from the peloton with the favourites to form a leading group. At the end of the queen stage of the 2022 Tour de France, the 23-year-old Englishman climbed to his first Tour stage win - and in Alpe d'Huez no less.
Hot party along the hairpin bends
Heat and crowds - that characterised the ride to Alpe d'Huez, where the riders had to make their way through a narrow lane in a line of fans. Holländer-Kurve and Norweger-Kurve have long been world-famous as venues for open-air parties at the side of the Tour de France route. Both are located on the mountain road to Alpe d'Huez and its - according to the official count - 21 hairpin bends. In the third year of the pandemic, the celebrations were once again exuberant. Unlike in previous years, the exclusion of spectators was no longer an issue.
Geschke fights - in vain
Simon Geschke fought doggedly for the dotted jersey of the best climber - in vain. In the end, the 36-year-old from Freiburg ran out of steam. He was the first German to wear the jersey all the way to Paris - but in the end only on behalf of Jonas Vingegaard, who secured both the overall and the mountain classification of this tour. Geschke managed nine days in the polka-dot bib - a German record. But the fact remains: never before has a German won the mountains classification at the Tour de France.
Corona decimates the peloton at the Tour de France 2022
The once best tour specialist in the peloton is still fighting for his comeback: Chris Froome, Tour winner in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, has not returned to his old level after a serious training crash in 2019 with complicated bone fractures. In Alpe d'Huez, he finished third on the day after a great fight and sent a sporting sign of life.
This was followed by a setback: the now 37-year-old professional cyclist from Team Israel-Premier Tech had to leave the race after testing positive for coronavirus before the 18th stage. He was one of 17 participants who were unable to finish the tour due to this virus infection. Also brought down by the virus: Enric Mas and Max Walscheid. 135 riders reached Paris - the lowest number since 2000.
Green means versatility
For many years, the green jersey had the reputation of being the award for the best sprinter in the Tour. But strictly speaking, sprinting ability is not necessarily rewarded in this points classification. It's also about versatility - especially at this year's Tour, whose route left few opportunities for the top sprinters. Wout van Aert was the deserved winner of this classification.
The Belgian can currently be considered the best all-rounder in road cycling. During the Tour, he won once as a breakaway in the finale to Calais (stage 4), once in the sprint in Lausanne and also the 40.7 kilometre individual time trial on stage 20 (pictured). And almost incidentally, he provided valuable help for team-mate Jonas Vingegaard. When he delivered the pace work for the man in yellow on the final climb of the last mountain stage, the pace was too high even for Pogacar, who had to let go. The Belgian finished the mountain arrival in Hautacam in third place. Van Aert turned the battle for green into an all-round stage.
Successful trio celebrates in Paris
The best in class at the 2022 Tour in Paris: Overall winner Jonas Vingegaard won the best climber's jersey as well as the yellow jersey, which therefore had to make do with a torso at the award ceremony. Wout van Aert was the second outstanding representative of the versatile and aggressive Jumbo-Visma team to take the green jersey for the first time - last year's winner Pogacar had to make do with winning the white jersey for the best young rider under 25.
Vingegaard versus Pogacar - this could be the duel for overall victory in the Tour in the coming years. Both are outstanding climbers and strong time trial specialists. The team classification went to Ineos Grenadiers with Geraint Thomas in third place overall.
Aftermath for Quintana
Epilogue: Nairo Quintana rode a strong Tour de France - finishing second in the mountain arrival at the Col du Granon and reaching Paris in sixth place overall. For now. The 32-year-old Colombian tested positive for the painkiller Tramadol twice during the Tour. Quintana claimed that he had never knowingly taken the drug. Nevertheless, he was subsequently disqualified and all his Tour results were cancelled.
He does not receive a ban. Officially, it is not considered a doping case. Tramadol is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) doping list (at the time of going to press) - but the medical regulations of the cycling world federation UCI prohibit Tramadol in racing because, among other things, it impairs coordination. Is Tramadol really not suitable for doping? Medical studies have come to the conclusion that Tramadol can have a performance-enhancing effect on cyclists.
Results of the Tour de France 2022
- Stage 1 | Winner: Yves Lampaert | Yellow jersey: Yves Lampaert | To the race report
- Stage 2 | Winner: Fabio Jakobsen | Yellow jersey: Wout van Aert | To the race report
- Stage 3 | Winner: Dylan Groenewegen | Yellow jersey: Wout van Aert | To the race report
- Stage 4 | Winner: Wout van Aert | Yellow jersey: Wout van Aert | To the race report
- Stage 5 | Winner: Simon Clarke | Yellow jersey: Wout van Aert | To the race report
- Stage 6 | Winner: Tadej Pogacar | Yellow jersey: Tadej Pogacar | To the race report
- Stage 7 | Winner: Tadej Pogacar | Yellow jersey: Tadej Pogacar | To the race report
- Stage 8 | Winner: Wout van Aert | Yellow jersey: Tadej Pogacar | To the race report
- Stage 9 | Winner: Bob Jungels | Yellow jersey: Tadej Pogacar | To the race report
- Stage 10 | Winner: Magnus Cort Nielsen | Yellow jersey: Tadej Pogacar | To the race report
- Stage 11 | Winner: Jonas Vingegaard | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 12 | Winner: Thomas Pidcock | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 13 | Winner: Mads Pedersen | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 14 | Winner: Michael Matthews | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 15 | Winner: Jasper Philipsen | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 16 | Winner: Hugo Houle | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 17 | Winner: Tadej Pogacar | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 18 | Winner: Jonas Vingegaard | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 19 | Winner: Christophe Laporte | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 20 | Winner: Wout van Aert | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
- Stage 21 | Winner: Jasper Philipsen | Yellow jersey: Jonas Vingegaard | To the race report
All results of the Tour de France 2022 is also available here in detailed form to read.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
