Rocamadour, France: Jonas Vingegaard survived a near fall on Saturday’s individual time-trial to virtually wrap up the 2022 Tour de France title and now only needs to cross the Champs-Elysees finish line in Paris on Sunday to guarantee the champion’s yellow jersey.
Team Jumbo’s Vingegaard tops the overall standings 3min 34sec ahead of two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar, while Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers, the 2018 winner, stands third at 8min 13sec.
Frenchman David Gaudu of FDJ and and Aleksandr Vlasov of Bora round out the virtual top five ahead of Sunday’s stage to Paris which is traditionally a ceremonial run.
Saturday’s time-trial was won by Wout van Aert ahead of Danish teammate Vingegaard, meaning the team have six wins, the yellow jersey, the green sprint jersey and the polka dot climb jersey.
Two years ago, Pogacar famously overturned a 57-second deficit on the penultimate day time-trial on La Planche des Belles Filles to snatch victory from Primoz Roglic.
But on Saturday, Vingegaard flew down the ramp last of the 139 surviving riders and set a relentlessly high pace through the baking country roads meaning a battle of nerves with Pogacar never really emerged.
He did, however, suffer a late wobble, losing his back wheel which slid over gravel into a gutter, but just managed to right himself.
Vingegaard, who is not a pure specialist of the race against the clock, could have played it safe given his more than three-minute lead at the start. He, instead, took all the risks on the technical course and had a scare close to the finish when he misjudged a curve and had to brake hard to avoid a crash.
Vingegaard then slowed down dramatically as he approached the finish line. He finished the 20th stage in second place behind winner Wout van Aert, his key teammate.
Van Aert crossed the finish line with a blistering average speed of 50.9 kph. The 41.7-kilometer stage from Lacapelle-Marival to Rocamadour was the longest individual time trial since 2014.
Vingegaard will hence become the first rider from Denmark to win the Tour since 1996, barring a crash or a last-minute incident.
Memorable ride
He built his success in the mountains. He first took the yellow jersey from Pogacar in the Alps with a memorable ride up the Col du Granon, and followed up this week with an impressive display of strength in the last Pyrenean stage to the resort of Hautacam.
Given Vingegaard’s healthy time advantage, it was unlikely Pogacar would be able to challenge the Danish rider’s supremacy in the time trial. Pogacar took third place, 27 seconds behind Van Aert.
Vingegaard will carry a lead of 3 minutes, 34 seconds over Pogacar into the final day, a 116-kilometer ride to Paris. Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour champion, lagged more than eight minutes off the pace in third place.
