Tour de France 2022 stage 21 LIVE: Jonas Vingegaard celebrates title on Champs-Elysees after Jasper Philipsen wins sprint finish
Jonas Vingegaard won his first Tour de France while Jasper Philipsen prevailed in a sprint finish to win Stage 21 on the Champs-Elysees
Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark won his first Tour de France title on Sunday as Jasper Philipsen claimed Stage 21, his second of the race, to conclude the 109th edition of the race.
The Dane came out on top of a thrilling three-week duel, edging two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar, who played one last card on the Champs-Elysees, leading out the peloton before the sprint finish when Philipsen, of Alpecin-Deceuninck, pipped Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff to the iconic sprint finish. The 25-year-old Vingegaard became the first Danish rider to win cycling’s biggest race since Bjarne Riis in 1996. He finished 3 minutes, 34 seconds ahead of second-place Pogacar. Vingegaard, who was runner-up to Pogacar last year, built his success in the mountains.
Vingegaard crossed the line arm-in-arm with his Jumbo-Visma team-mates to confirm the victory he effectively sealed in Saturday’s time trial. Britain’s Geraint Thomas, of Ineos, took a memorable third place, his third podium finish in his Tour de France career.
The day started with Lorena Wiebes putting on the first yellow jersey of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes, beating Marianne Vos in a sprint finish to conclude a historic opening stage on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Wiebes said: “I’m really happy that I was finally able to race on the Champs-Elysees. As expected it was a hard race. It feels really special to ride here in Paris and even more special to wear the yellow jersey. I was fine with the pressure because I directly put the most pressure on myself.”
Jonas Vingegaard reacts to winning Tour de France
“It’s just incredible, I finally won the Tour, nothing can go wrong anymore.
“I’m sitting with my daughter. It’s just incredible. It’s just incredible, it’s the biggest cycling race of the year, the biggest one you can win. Now I’ve done it, nobody can take this away from me.
“I always had the feeling I could fight for the win. In the end, when I started believing, I always believed, but now I started to think, ‘something would need to go wrong to not win’, that was after Hautacam.
“That was incredible [the Danish fans], so many saw me ride in the Yellow Jersey, I appreciate it so much. Every Dane here, cheering for me for three weeks, it means everything to me.
“Tuesday I go to Holland to celebrate, Wednesday in Copenhagen, Thursday in my town, Friday I am on the couch for one week.
“Of course I’m happy for my victory, I want to celebrate, relax, but also I want more.”
Tour de France 2022: Bradley Wiggins on Tadej Pogacar
“The sportsmanship he has show,” Bradley Wiggins tells Eurosport.
“The smile, but underneath there’s a burning desire. I think he’ll be a force to be reckoned with over the next few years.”
Tour de France 2022
“It was kind of funny, it was funny because I said 2km before, here we go, the attack,” Pogacar jokes.
“I went to the roundabout but thne I was then finished.”
Tour de France 2022: Jasper Philipsen reacts to Stage 21 win
“I cannot believe, it's a childhood dream come true, it will take a while to realise, I'm super proud of the team,” says Stage 21 winner Jasper Philipsen.
“To finish the tour like this, it’s the cherry on the cake.
“It went ideal for me, I was in a great position. I could stay in this wheel and do my final sprint when I wanted. Super happy and proud to win in this beautiful Champs-Elysees.
“We had disappointment earlier in the tour, it didn’t go the way we wanted. But to win in style, it’s just unbelievable.”
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
“One of our best ever cyclists now, the guy is incredible, such grace,” says Bradley Wiggins to Eurosport.
“The changing of the guard from old Team Sky to Ineos, it’s been a joy.”
Tour de France 2022: Jasper Philipsen wins Stage 21
Now just 600m left, it’s a big push. Jasper Philipsen has too much power, the Belgian wins Stage 21 by about three bike lengths, brilliant.
Van Aert, did not contest this stage, instead soaking up the occasion and coming over with his teammates, led by the race’s winner Vingegaard of course.
Some jostling between Kristoff and Ewan, with the former confirming the latter is not happy with him, but he maintains he took the fair line.
A sixth stage win for Belgium, by the way, that is the most by any nation this year.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
We hit 1km remaining!
Fred Wright going for a long one, phenomenal stuff.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
Now 3km to go. Ganna and Pogacar leading out still.
Ewan looks primed. A big move from Philipsen too, he’s further up. Maybe the best position of the lot?
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
Pogacar! Drama, he leads out, 5km remain.
Sensational, he couldn’t, could he? After the disappointment of not retaining the Yellow Jersey, he’s messing with the aspirations of the sprinters.
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