TILLYKKE!

Defending Champ Jonas Vingegaard Sips Champagne After Tour de France Victory

Jonas Vingegaard, last year’s race winner, finished 7 minutes and 29 seconds ahead of his next closest rival.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard out-sprinted his rivals to clinch back-to-back victories in the Tour de France, cruising into Paris for Sunday’s processional stage and crossing the finish line arm-in-arm with his teammates. The 26-year-old Dane sipped champagne after racing down the Champs-Élysées and crossing the line 7 minutes and 29 seconds ahead of his next closest rival, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar. Pogačar’s British teammate, Adam Yates, was third, coming in 10:56 behind Vingegaard. This year’s three-week race was all but over by Wednesday, when Vingegaard thrashed Pogačar over two consecutive stages in the Alps. During the 17th stage, widely considered the competition’s most difficult, a radio broadcast from an exhausted Pogačar to his teammates confirmed his defeat. “I’m dead,” he said. On Sunday, Vingegaard acknowledged the “super hard race with a super nice fight between me and Tadej.” He added, “I hope to come back next year and see if I can take a third win.”