PARIS: Jonas Vingegaard won back-to-back men’s Tour de France titles after safely finishing Sunday’s final stage, which was won by Belgian Jordi Meeus, while Tadej Pogacar again entertained the crowd.
Slovenian Pogacar, who showed flair and panache as he attacked on the Champs Elysees, was second with his UAE Emirates teammate, Briton Adam Yates, taking third place.
Belgian Jasper Philipsen won the green jersey for the points classification with Italian Giulio Ciccone taking the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification.
Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour champion, won the white jersey for the best under-25 rider for the fourth year in a row.
Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma won the teams classification, a logical end to a race mastered by the Dutch outfit in the third week.
“It’s been an amazing year, what a Tour de France for us,” Vingegaard, who took the yellow jersey after the sixth stage and held it until Paris, said.
“We started the plans early and once again I could not have done it without my team. It’s been an amazing Tour for us and I’m so proud of every one of us.
“Tonight we will celebrate, have a good dinner, it will be a nice evening. Thanks to my opponents who have been amazing, it’s been an amazing three weeks fighting with you guys.”
The 26-year-old built his success with a crushing victory in Tuesday’s individual time trial, beating Pogacar by one minute and 38 seconds, a day before his rival cracked in the last Alpine stage.
Pogacar, however, recovered to win the last mountain stage in the Vosges on Saturday but it was too late for the 24-year-old to turn the tables.
He finished a massive 7:29 behind Vingegaard with Yates 10:56 off the pace.
Sunday’s 21st stage was, as usual, a largely processional ride from western Paris, with Vingegaard and his teammates celebrating with glasses of champagne.
The action began when the bunch started the first of eight loops of the Champs Elysees, with Pogacar jumping away from the peloton in yet another spectacular move by the Slovenian entertainer.
He was sandbagged by Vingegaard’s teammate Nathan van Hooydonck and was then reined in before a trio of riders also tried their luck.
All Tour final stages have been decided in a bunch sprint since 2006, a year after Alexandre Vinokourov won solo on the world’s most famous avenue, and this edition was no exception.
Belgian Jasper Philipsen was the hot favorite but he did not time his effort perfectly and was pipped to the line by his compatriot Meeus, who was taking part in his first Tour de France.
