Jonas Vingegaard sealed his second consecutive Tour de France victory on the cobblestones of the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday.
The Dane crossed the line arm in arm with his teammates with the Arc de Triomphe behind them, celebrating a dominant performance at the race.
Meanwhile, Belgium’s Jordi Meeus won the final, largely processional stage, on the Champs-Élysées, denying his compatriot Jasper Philipsen a fifth stage victory in this year’s race. Philipsen, however, did enough to seal the green jersey for the first time in his career.
Finely poised for two-and-a-half weeks, this year’s Tour de France was decided on two difficult days in the Alps – on Stage 16’s time trial when Tadej Pogačar lost 1:38 minutes to Vingegaard, a margin compounded on Stage 17 when the Slovenian cracked on the day’s final climb and lost another 5:45 minutes.
From that moment, Vingegaard seemed assured of his yellow jersey and he navigated the remaining three stages without much difficulty.
Ultimately, he finished 7:29 ahead of Pogačar in second, and 10:56 ahead of Britain’s Adam Yates in third.
Italy’s Giulio Ciccone won the King of the Mountains competition and rode through Paris resplendent in a polka-dot jersey and matching bike, while Pogačar won the white jersey, awarded to the best placed rider in the overall standings aged under 26.
As the men’s race finishes, the women’s race begins and Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky won the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes, held earlier in the day in Clermont-Ferrand. That race finishes on July 30.