Cycling: The winner of the 2022 Tour de France is Jonas Vingegaard. After today's 18th stage there is no longer any doubt that the Dane will also be at the top in Paris. The 25-year-old left Tadej Pogacar behind on the final climb - also thanks to his teammates - and literally flew to victory in the stage. Bad luck for Simon Geschke: As a result, the German loses the mountain jersey to the future tour winner.
Vingegaard waits, attacks and triumphs
If there were any doubts before today's 18th stage, that jonas vingegaard (Jumbo - Visma) is the deserved winner of the Tour de France 2022, these should now be finally cleared up. After 25 kilometers from Lourdes to Hautacam, the 143,2-year-old Dane won the last mountain finish of this year's Tour of France with absolute ease as a soloist. About eight kilometers before the summit of the Col de Spandelles, the opponent sat down Tadej pogacar (UAE) its first attack. But Jonas Vingegaard did not leave the Slovenian's rear wheel during this attack and also during the following attacks. On the downhill, Vingegaard almost fell and Pogacar actually fell. The future champion waited for his adversary, and then on the final climb, after help from his teammates, defeated him Sepp kuss and wout van aert to let stand.
Mas risks - and loses
More than 30 men formed the breakaway group of the day on the 143,2-kilometer stage from Lourdes to Hautacam. As expected, this fell apart at the Col d'Aubisque. Once again, the man in the green jersey presented himself as a strong climber. wout van aert (Jumbo – Visma) was still among the best after crossing the Col de Spandelles. At his side, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ) and Daniel Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) crossed the penultimate summit of the day. Didn't have a good day Enric Mas Nicolau (Movistar). The Spaniard – in tenth place overall before the start of the stage – actually wanted to take a big step towards the top five. But both on the descent and uphill, he proved to be not strong enough.
A thriller about the mountain jersey
The man who can do everything: Wout van Aert! The Belgian proved once again today that he is probably the best cyclist in the world at the moment. At the beginning of the stage he made several attacks today to launch the breakaway group of the day. In the second climb - on the Col de Spandelles - he was the first to sprint over the line. In this way, he positioned himself to maybe even conquer the mountain jersey later on in the final climb. But the plans of his team did not provide for this. A few kilometers before the end, Wout van Aert got together with Daniel Martinez caught up by the favorite group. The man in green almost sprinted uphill to stop his captain's attack jonas vingegaard to prepare. The Dane then pulled away - and Tadej Pogacar was finally beaten. With this stage win, Jonas Vingegaard secured not only the yellow jersey but also the points – eight points ahead Simon Geschke (Cofidis).
Geschke just didn't have his legs today
The dream was big, but so was the task. Simon Geschke (Cofidis) wanted to be the first German to claim overall victory in the mountains classification. But the native of Berlin with the most beautiful beard in the peloton simply lacked good legs today. As expected, there were numerous attacks at the beginning of the stage. Again and again a group broke away, which was brought back by Cofidis because Geschke was not among them. However, when the escape group was over 20 men in size and the French team no longer had the strength to do the necessary tracking work, Simon Geschke had to go on the offensive himself. However, the 36-year-old – who set a new German record with 9 days in a mountain jersey – was no longer able to catch up with the leading group. Also because the team from Julius Ciccone (Trek – Segafredo) – above all Build Mollema – always kept up the pace in the breakaway group.
Froome, Caruso & Erviti out with Corona
Shortly before the end of the Tour de France, three more professionals had to leave the tour due to a positive corona test. Chris Froome (Israel – Premier Tech), Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Damian Caruso (Bahrain – Victorious) were not allowed to compete in today's 18th stage. Almost would too Fabio Jacobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) have to start their journey home. However, the Dutchman crossed the finish line 18 seconds before the waiting time yesterday and may therefore still have a chance of a stage win in the mass sprint tomorrow – but certainly on Sunday.
@TamauPogi crashed! But Jonas Vingegaard waits for him.
@TamauPogi est tombé ! Mais Jonas Vingegaard l'attend.#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/bmGV0358cx
- Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) July 21, 2022
@TamauPogi can match the pace of @WoutvanAert and don't follow Jonas Vingegaard! #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/3FgifqBz0F
— Tour de France – DE (@letour_de) July 21, 2022
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