Vingegaard defended his victory in the Tour de France. Pogačar’s defeat was decided in the time trial and the royal stage

The winner of the Tour de France was defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, who decided his second consecutive triumph at the beginning of the third week. Until then, he had been in a tight battle with his main rival Tadei Pogachar. Jordi Meeus dominated the final finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Denmark’s Vingegaard held just a ten-second lead over Slovenia’s Pogačar ahead of Tuesday’s time trial, which followed a free day. But a 22.4km ride against the chronometer on the hilly course from Passy to Combloux brought a major reversal.

Although an even battle was expected between the two favourites, the northerner in yellow won in unequivocal fashion. He beat second-placed Pogacar by one minute and 38 seconds and third-placed Wout van Aert by almost three minutes.

Vingegaard confirmed his dominance a day later on the Col de la Loze. On the last climb of stage 17, considered by many to be the royal climb of the 110th edition of the famous race, Pogačar ran out of strength and lost his real chance for his third overall victory in the Tour de France.

At the finish on the altiport in Courchevel, it was Austrian Felix Gall who was fastest, but moments later it was the Danish champion who could also rejoice. After the finish he was already leading his Slovenian rival by 7 minutes and 35 seconds.

Thursday and Friday were followed by flat stages which, despite the expectations, did not offer a classic final spurt. In Bourg-en-Bresse, one of the refugees, namely Kasper Asgreen from Denmark, won just ahead of the peloton.

He was able to celebrate his victory the day after, also from the breakaway, finishing alongside Matej Mohoric. However, the finish photo revealed that this time it was the cyclist from Slovenia who was narrowly first.

The last mountain test was 133.5 kilometres long and led from Belfort to the winter resort of Le Markstein Fellering. In stage 20, it was Italy’s Giulio Ciccone who first confirmed his claim to the polka dot jersey on the climbing premiums.

The home fans’ favourite Thibaut Pinot then attacked for the stage win, but the farewell Frenchman failed to triumph. Tadej Pogačar made up for it with a valuable laurel and became the holder of the white jersey for the best rider under 25 for the fourth time in a row.

Jasper Philipsen, the owner of the green jersey for the points competition ruler, wanted to win his fifth victory at the 2023 Tour de France in the traditional Sunday spurt in Paris. Unlike last year, however, he was not successful this year on the Champs-Élysées, narrowly beaten by his Belgian compatriot Jordi Meeus. The closing ceremony, however, had above all a Danish king.

By the way, it has been a very successful season for the Jumbo-Visma team so far. Among other successes, its members have dominated both Grand Tour events so far, as Vingegaard followed up Primoz Roglic’s triumph at the Giro d’Italia in May. In addition, both are expected to appear at the Spanish Vuelta.

The finish in the French capital saw 150 riders finish out of a total of 176 starters. Due to crashes and injuries during the race, Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz, Mark Cavendish, Fabio Jakobsen, Caleb Ewan and Romain Bardet withdrew. The aforementioned star Belgian all-rounder Van Aert travelled home before stage 18 due to the birth of his offspring.

Next year’s edition of the Old Lady is scheduled from June 29 to July 21, 2024. During that time, preparations for the Olympic Games will be at their peak, so the organizers will break with tradition and use the city of Nice as the final destination. The Grand Départ will also be original, as the event’s ceremonial start will take place in Florence, Italy.

Top 10 of the final standings of the Tour de France 2023

1. Jonas Vingegaard
2. Tadej Pogačar (+7:29)
3. Adam Yates (+10:56)
4. Simon Yates (+12:23)
5. Carlos Rodríguez (+13:17)
6. Pello Bilbao (+13:27)
7. Jai Hindley (+14:44)
8. Felix Gall (+16:09)
9. David Gaudu (+23:08)
10. Guillaume Martin (+26:30)

Source: Tour de France, CT Sport