Tour de France – Three things that stood out: Vingegaard not the strongest driver and the next child prodigy is already lurking
The crown prince became the new king: from last year’s substitute captain, who was overjoyed with his second place overall, Jonas Vingegaard rose to become the new dominator on the 2022 tour.
Tadej Pogacar also had to acknowledge the 25-year-old’s superiority – no matter where and how often he attacked: he was never able to lose his rival in the last, decisive week of the tour.
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Only after stage wins the Slovenian was 3:2 ahead – in the rating the gap was clear, even after the wearer of the yellow jersey was still 51 seconds behind in Paris, because Jumbo preferred to enjoy the moment of victory and rolled over the final kilometers in a relaxed team formation behind the first part of the field, cheering.
Three things that stood out on the tour.
1. The strongest driver in the race was not Vingegaard
Not only for Vingegaard was the shared moment of happiness with the teammates in Paris more important than disdainful results – serial winner Wout Van Aert even sacrificed the possible stage win on the Champs-Elysées and did without the sprint. A completely new move for the success-hungry Belgian, who even got one in the yellow jersey at the start of the tour after three second places Attack with the crowbar had ridden to finally stand at the very top.
But his most impressive performances came afterwards – and without them Vingegaard would not have won the tour: over the cobblestones in northern France it was Van Aert who drove his captain, who had been suspended after a defect, back within sight of Pogacar. In the Alps, with his speed, climbing strength and downhill skills, he was decisive in making the large-scale attack on the way to the Col du Granon the turning point of the tour, and in the Pyrenees he delivered his masterpiece: after Hautacam he turned it up so much that even Pogacar couldn’t follow his pace on the final climb.
Had he set his mind to it, Van Aert would have won the mountain jersey as well – at the Col d’Aubisque he had his big chance (which he also regretted in retrospect). Vingegaard therefore made it clear on the Eurosport microphone in Paris: “Wout was definitely the strongest driver in this race!”
Van Aert emotional after stage win: “A dream scenario”
He showed his only weakness off the track: When asked about the topic of credibility, which was quite justified given the extreme performance, he reacted after his time trial victory with an annoyed look and the comment, that he “didn’t want to answer such a shitty question”. But as long as there are no convincing answers, the questions will not end.
2. 75 meters, seven points, 11 seconds: German without fortune
The final stage was also symptomatic of this: Who was extremely active and was caught as the last breakaway on the final lap? The German duo Jonasrutsch and Maximilian Schachmann. Who did the last mountain classification go to? The deputy wearer of the mountain jersey, Geschke.
What remains, however, is the knowledge that there is actually no lack of class and fighting spirit – and how very, very many fans were rooting for this offensive driving style. That made cycling fun and, as Geschke said, hopefully inspired other riders to do similarly brave things on the next tour.
“Inspiration for other drivers”: Geschke takes stock of the mountain jersey
3. The next child prodigy is already lurking
A 23-year-old and a 25-year-old sharing the top spot on the podium for the second year running – who should there be room for in the next Tour editions?
Pogacar and Vingegaard as permanent dominators? Experts discuss the future
To in the rating To do better than 17th place, the 22-year-old has to work on what is perhaps his only weakness: “He still has to improve in time trials,” says Eurosport expert Jens Voigt – “and he has to be prepared to forego his usual successes in other disciplines “if he wants to focus completely on the classification in three-week tours.
The Englishman is in good hands with Team Ineos in terms of time trial training and the increased switch to road racing could begin as early as next season. Before that, however, he wants to complete a special triple: the cross gold is to be followed by the titles at the mountain bike world championships and in the road race of the world championships this summer. Then he would be master of all classes – and free for new challenges.