Jonas Vingegaard has had to overcome one heart-in-mouth moment in yellow before effectively sealing a dazzling Tour de France triumph.
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Cycling’s new great Dane finished runner-up to his colossal teammate Wout van Aert in an epic time-trial battle on the 20th and penultimate stage on Saturday.
But Vingegaard had to endure one near-mishap while taking all the risks to win the stage, being forced to brake hard near the finish to avoid a crash after misjudging a curve on the technical 40.7km circuit between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour.
“I think I almost had a heart attack when that happened. Just when I thought I was not taking big risks, I made a mistake going into the corner,” Vingegaard was able to laugh later.
“In the end, I saved it. I’m really happy about that.”
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Taking things more carefully after the scare, he finished only 19 seconds behind his Jumbo-Visma colleague van Aert, who again demonstrated amazing power and versatility by winning his third stage of a breathtaking Tour in 47:59.
It means Vingegaard will go into the largely ceremonial final stage to Paris on Sunday 3:34 ahead of reigning champion Tadej Pogačar, who was third fastest on the stage, eight seconds adrift of the Danish leader.
“It means everything, it’s really incredible. It’s the biggest thing within cycling and we did it!” said 25-year-old Vingegaard, who was in tears after being greeted at the finish line by his girlfriend and daughter.
Jonas Vingegaard said “having his two girls” there meant even more as he effectively sealed victory at the Tour de France.(AP / Pool Photo: Tim De Waele)
“Having my two girls on the finish line means even more to me. Since last year, I always believed I could do it and now it’s happened. It’s really incredible. It’s both a relief and I’m just so happy and proud.”
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