Jonas Vingegaard claims maiden Tour de France title as Jasper Philipsen sprints to final stage win
The Dane celebrated after the final stage to the Champs Elysees, following a gripping, three-week battle with last year’s champion Tadej Pogacar
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jasper Philipsen won the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris as Jonas Vingegaard crossed the line safely to confirm his first overall title.
Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Philipsen took his second victory of this Tour as he came around Dylan Groenewegen in the final few hundred metres to win comfortably, with Alexander Kristoff a much closer third.
Behind, Vingegaard crossed the line arm-in-arm with his Jumbo-Visma teammates to seal his victory, with Wout Van Aert, a winner on the Champs-Elysees last year, choosing to sit out the sprint in order to join the celebrations.
Vingegaard finished three minutes 34 seconds clear of Tadej Pogacar with 2018 winner Geraint Thomas completing the podium.
“It’s just incredible,” the 25-year-old Dane said. “Now I’ve finally won the Tour. Now nothing can go wrong anymore and I’m sitting here with my daughter and it’s just incredible.
“It’s the biggest cycling race of the year, the biggest one you can win and now I’ve done it and nobody can take this away from me.
“I’m super happy about my victory now. Of course I want to celebrate, I want to relax, but then I always want more.”
The battle for yellow had effectively been sealed in Saturday’s time trial, with Sunday’s stage for celebrations and for sprinting.
Groenewegen’s Team BikeExchange-Jayco led the peloton through the final bend and on to the Champs-Elysees but the Dutchman was made to go too soon and had no response when Philipsen powered his way past at the end of the 116km closing stage.
“I cannot believe it, it’s a childhood dream coming true,” said Philipsen, who took his first Tour win on stage 15 in Carcassonne. “This will take a while to realise. I’m just super proud of the team. That we could finish a Tour like this is the cherry on the cake.
“I think it went ideal for me. I was in a great position and I think Dylan was forced to launch early and I could stay in his wheel and do my final sprint when I wanted to. I’m super happy and proud – to win on the Champs-Elysees is the dream of any sprinter.”
A six-man breakaway had tried its luck late on, but there was no way the sprint teams, starved of opportunities since the Grand Depart in Copenhagen, were going to pass up the now-familiar bunch finish on the boulevard.
The irrepressible Pogacar, true to form, launched an attack on the last of the eight laps of the circuit but was soon shut down. It was a move befitting a Tour marked by attacking riding and relentless pace, set to go down as the fastest ever ridden.
The pace over the first half of this stage, ridden through the southwestern suburbs of the capital, was very different.
As the riders approached Versailles Jumbo-Visma riders clinked champagne glasses, celebrating Vingegaard’s victory both in the general classification but also the kind of the mountains competition, not to mention Van Aert’s green jersey in the points classification and six stage wins in all.
While Vingegaard and Pogacar traded blows throughout the Alps and Pyrenees in the fight for yellow, the 36-year-old Thomas rode a controlled race that has brought him a third career podium finish in this race.
“I’m still making the most of it,” the Welshman said. “As I’ve said now many times, I’m much closer to the end of my career than the start, so really make the most of it, soak it all in and enjoy days like this because they don’t come around too often.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments