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.”
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
Now just 7km remain, tongues out in the breakaway, they will join with the peloton soon.
The bell sounds! Strap in, this should be good.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
The gap is closing fast and almost completely closed.
Now 9km remain, the breakaway look back, the peloton is coming.
It’s now just Schlachmann and Rutsch; Duchesne dropped off.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
The breakaway is just three now, the gap is just eight seconds. 10.5km remain.
Rutsch, Duchesne and Schlachmann remain, Le Gac has dropped off.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
Van Aert in the middle of the peleton, but the other sprinters right at the front, the top 20-30 or so.
The gap is 10 seconds. Now only 13km remain.
Two laps to go! The bell is coming...
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
Van Aert, Jakobsen, Philipsen, Groenewegen and Ewan; they’re all there!
This could be a really explosive finish to a memorable Tour.
That group up top is Rutsch, Le Gac, Duchesne and Schlachmann.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
Jakobsen, a real favourite to win here, is well placed. His Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team move up.
Owain Doull has been dropped off the breakaway, which is down to four riders.
Jumbo-Visma not working at all, perhaps Van Aert isn’t in the running today? Has he had enough glory perhaps for one Tour.
Now 19km remain.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
Edvald Boasson Hagen with a technical issue, a big blow and an impact on UCI ProTeam Team TotalEnergies teammate Peter Sagan.
The gap is down to 13 seconds, having briefly moved up to 22 seconds.
Now just 21.4km remaining.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
The gap nudges up to 22 seconds. Kron is leading the peloton, they’re all working really hard now.
Lotto Soudal, BikeExchange and QuickStep at the front of the chase.
The sprinters’ teams look to still have their full allocation in the race, which is bad news for the breakaway group.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
We have a 13-second gap now to the peloton.
Now just 26km remain. Groupama-FDJ duo Olivier le Gac and Antoine Duchesne make a move to join Maximilian Schachmann, Owain Doull and Jonas Rutsch.
Not the smoothest roads for the riders, tremors going through their forearms.
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
The breakaway group is ballooning, which has dragged them back to the peloton.
Now onto the downhill section back to Place de la Concorde.
Back to a three-man breakaway. Schachmann, Doull and Rutsch are at the front.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies