Jonas Vingegaard defends Tour de France title, as gripping battle with Tadej Pogacar ends

Jonas Vingegaard is the back-to-back Tour de France champion, with the Danish Jumbo-Visma rider topping the podium in Paris after a gripping battle in the mountains with Tadej Pogacar.

Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and Team Jumbo-Visma celebrates as the overall winner of the Tour de France for a second consecutive year. Picture: Marco Bertorello - Pool/Getty Images

Jonas Vingegaard won his second successive Tour de France on Sunday after Jordi Meeus claimed the final stage honours on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Denmark’s Vingegaard of the Jumbo-Visma team crossed the finish line after the 21-day race 7min 29sec ahead of Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, the champion in 2020 and 2021.

Pogacar’s UAE teammate Adam Yates of Great Britain rounded out the top three podium.

Vingegaard’s winning margin was the largest since 2014 when Italian Vincenzo Nibali took the fabled champion’s yellow jersey by 7min 39sec.

“I enjoyed fighting for this win with ‘Pogi’ and Yates, but now I’m just looking forward to having a nice dinner here in Paris with my family,” said the champion.

“It was a long, hard race and one day ran into another but there’s a feeling of being proud and happy.

“Winning for the second time is amazing with all the Danish people here. I hope to come back to take a third win, at least try it.”

Jasper Philipsen wears the best sprinter's green jersey, Jonas Vingegaard wears the overall leader’s yellow jersey, Giulio Ciccone wears the best climber‘s polka dot jersey, and Tadej Pogacar wears the best young rider's white jersey at the conclusion of the 2023 Tour de France. Picture: Etienne Garnier/POOL/AFP

Despite finishing runner-up, Pogacar was happy to focus on the positives.

“Considering everything it’s been a great Tour, I have to be happy with that,” Pogacar said after picking up his best young rider jersey for the fourth time.

“We have two guys on the podium, and I won two stages and the white jersey. I love cycling,” he said.

The final stage was won by outsider Meeus of the Bora team, with Jasper Philipsen denied a fifth stage win on this Tour right at the line in a photo finish.

“What a wonderful finish, it’s been such a high level Tour,” said the surprise stage winner.

Stage winner Jordi Meeus after crossing the line first in Paris. Picture: Marco Bertorello – Pool/Getty Images

The world’s greatest bike race provided tense drama with spectacular backdrops as Vingegaard and Pogacar remained separated by seconds until the Dane edged ahead with a sensational individual time trial last Tuesday.

The following day, on a 28km climb to the ski resort of Courchevel, Pogacar cracked, shouting “I’m gone, I’m dead” before Vingegaard killed off the race with a sensational final climb.

The event had been billed as a showdown between the defending champion Vingegaard and Pogacar, who has won the Tour twice and now come second twice.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme used boxing terms to describe the struggle.

“They went 15 rounds and then there was a punch in the gut, a knee on the floor and a knock out punch,” he said Sunday.

The podium (L-R): Tadej Pogacar in second place, race winner Jonas Vingegaard and Adam Yates in third place. Picture: David Ramos/Getty Images

All time great Eddy Merckx told AFP the pair had delivered a thrilling show.

“Pogacar is a more complete rider, but in the high mountains at least, Vingegaard remains the stronger,” he said.

“I don’t know what happened to me. I took on too much this year and after two weeks I started to look as white as this shirt,” said runner-up Pogacar, pointing to his best under-25 rider’s white jersey.

Pogacar started well enough, taking minor advantages in the Basque hills until Vingegaard attacked on the first mountain stage in the Pyrenees to take the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

And while Pogacar clawed back a few seconds here and there, the defending champion never relinquished the lead all the way to Paris.

Runner-up in 2021, the softly-spoken Vingegaard was the only rider to challenge the Slovenian prodigy in the high mountains.

In 2022, he went one step higher and won the title at altitude, and it proved to be the case again in 2023, but with a Tour of such poise and dominance his claim to be targeting a third straight title must be taken seriously.

“The Tour de France is the greatest race in the world,” beamed the 26-year-old. “There’s something so special about it and I can tell you I’ll be back again next year to try and win it again.”