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.”
Tom Pidcock reflects on maiden Tour de France
“It’s more going through it, learning, writing stuff down. Every little thing makes a difference,” Tom Pidcock said.
“When I joined the team, they said I should write stuff down as I learn and here every day I’ve been writing everything down. So, I’ve got a pretty good idea for next year, a pretty good routine and everything.”
Tour de France 2022: Stage 21
OK, so attention turns to Stage 21 in the men’s Tour de France.
Glory for Vingegaard, but who will win one of the most prestigious stages in all of cycling?
Tour de France Femmes 2022: Kasia Niewiadoma reacts to Stage 1
Kasia Niewiadoma on Stage 1: “It was surprisingly easy, I expected it to be hard. Nice to open the legs out.
“There was nothing crazy happening. I expected a chaotic race, fighting for positions, but it seemed relaxed, maybe due to quite wide roads.
“The last lap was all about fighting for position to get to the front, but I feel like a lot of things for GC riders, everybody is looking forward to this. You have to be conscious of the other riders.
“My teammate got punctured one and a half laps to go. A bit of a panic. It was a little preparation for Paris-Roubaix.
“I just want to stay safe in these stages. I’m happy everybody stayed relatively up without injuries.”
Tour de France Femmes 2022: Pfeiffer Georgi reacts to Lorena Wiebes win
After Wiebes pipped Vos, third went to Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx).
Pfeiffer Georgi on the team win: “It’s pretty special. The final sprint was crazy, I had to do a bit of moving up.
“It was pretty hard. We always come in with a perfect plan, but today was hectic, you have to adapt. The girls did a good job to cover the moves.
“It’s 800m from the corner, it’s a long way, Lorena is in position, so she can win.
“Today is a monumental day, she doesn’t show it feeling the pressure. Karaoke on the bus.
“Good vibes before the start, she doesn’t show the nerves. It’s a monumental day but we tried to treat it like any other bike race.”
Tour de France Femmes 2022: Lorena Wiebes reacts to Stage 1 win
“It was a chaotic sprint. I was quite relaxed before the start, we did everything as normal.
“Of course there were nerves towards the final. It’s amazing, I’m really, really happy with this.
“The whole team deserves this. We’re ready for the next one.
“It was really close, luckily I could accelerate one more time and hold it to the finish line.”
Tour de France Femmes 2022
Vos on Wiebes: “She had a deserved win.”
Tour de France Femmes 2022: Lorena Wiebes (DSM) wins Stage 1 and becomes first leader
It’s Lorena Wiebes who takes it, that was a drag race to the line.
Vos pipped, incredible finish!
Huge win for Wiebes, she took the outside line and then matched Vos on a long sprint home, superb.
There are tears as she celebrates on the Champs-Élysées. Magic.
Tour de France Femmes 2022
Biannic and Vos primed, Henderson leads out...
Norsgaard could go long.
Tour de France Femmes 2022
Marianne Vos is well primed and Gladys Verhulst has been caught.
Just 2km to go.
The final lead-out, drama coming!
Tour de France Femmes 2022
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