After 3 weeks, 3,350km and his continuous efforts on beautiful but also dangerous routes, Jonas Vingegaard officially won the Tour de France 2022.
On Sunday (September 24), 135 runners departed from Paris La Defensa Arena at 4:46 p.m. (local time) towards the Champs-Elysees in the majestic Paris. This is the final stage of the 2022 Tour de France. With a gap of more than 3 minutes created against Tadej Pogacar, everyone knew that the championship was considered to have belonged to Vingegaard.
The victory in this final stage belongs to Jasper Philipsen - the second time in this year's tournament. The Belgian crocodile has also become the best sprinter at the 109th Tour de France, becoming the only one to score twice. Philipsen has overcome the two former curlers who have won the Champions League at Champs-Elysees, Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff, to achieve the same feat as idol Tom Boonen, who also won the stage in Paris for the second time at the age of 24 in 2004.
Wout van Aert did not participate in the final sprint to celebrate Jonas Vingegaard's first final victory.
Traditionally, peloton runs slowly in the first 50km. The runner wearing a Bi-dyed shirt, Simon Geschke, was given the last diem by the remaining runners at the Pa ve des Gardes. According to legend, Jumbo-Visma - the team in the yellow shirt of Maillot Jaune, led the race to Paris.
Reigning champion Pogacar still tried to attack but in this stage, Filippo Ganna was the one who closely followed. The Slovenia scorer could eventually narrow the gap with Vingegaard from 3 minutes 34 seconds to 2 minutes 43 seconds.
As for Vingegaard, a former fish factory employee, he won his first Tour de France championship in his career just 1 year after playing a "phenomenon" role as the runner-up after Pogacar.
This victory is so meaningful to me, its unbelievable, Vingegaard said, standing on the podium of glory on the sun- filled Champs Elysees, There are so many people I want to thank but I dont know where to start.
Vingegaard praised his teammate Wout van Aert as a "phenomenon" for his support in this victory, while still rating Pogacar as "the best racer in the world". 2018 champion Geraint Thomas, ranked 3rd overall.
For Pogacar, he shared: "The white shirt (for the best young racer) is not really what I am pursuing, but I am satisfied with the way I race and proud to be second."
