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Jonas Vingegaard Wins Tour de France, Completing His Sudden Ascent to Top

Vingegaard, 25, won cycling’s most prestigious race on his second attempt, setting up a new rivalry with the two-time champion he dethroned, Tadej Pogacar.

By Juliet Macur

PARIS — Head down and legs churning, Jonas Vingegaard crossed the finish line of the penultimate stage of the Tour de France on Saturday and cupped his hand over his mouth, as if to stifle a gasp. He had done what he had come to do, and his astonishing accomplishment was sinking in.

In only his second Tour de France, and only three years after becoming a professional cyclist, Vingegaard, a 25-year-old Danish rider, had sealed his victory in cycling’s most prestigious race.

His victory became official on Sunday, when the race concluded with its traditional celebratory ride into Paris. But the Tour had been effectively over for days, and when Vingegaard finished second in Saturday’s time trial to his Jumbo-Visma teammate, Wout van Aert of Belgium, his effort on the 25-mile course was enough to leave him with such a large lead in the overall standings — 3 minutes 34 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer — that the final stage brought almost no drama at all.

Vingegaard steered clear of danger on the final laps in Paris, crossing — safely — alongside his teammates well behind the peloton. His winning time was 79 hours 33 minutes 20 seconds.

“We made a plan and we followed it 100 percent,” he said on the podium afterward . “And thanks to everyone in the team, behind the team. It has been really incredible journey for us and now we finally did it.”

After about three full weeks of the Tour, Vingegaard, as he had on Saturday, immediately sought out his partner and toddler daughter in the area past the finish line and gave them a long, sweaty hug.

While Vingegaard had pedaled up and down all the endless hills and unforgiving mountains, and across all the flat roads past fields of flowers and farms, he had wanted to win for them. During every day of searing heat that at times rose above 100 degrees, melting pavement and sidelining some riders with heat exhaustion, he said, he had steeled himself for them.

And, in the end, Vingegaard, who grew up in a small fishing town in northern Denmark, won what was arguably one of the most grueling Tours in history.

Tadej Pogacar, the Slovene rider looking for his third straight Tour win, finished second overall, 2:43 behind Vingegaard, after fighting Vingegaard for the lead until the race’s final days. Geraint Thomas of Britain, the 2018 Tour winner, was third, 7:22 off the pace. Every other rider was at least 13 minutes behind Vingegaard.

“I think the battle between me and Jonas was really something special,” Pogacar, 23, said Saturday, acknowledging the eventual outcome. He offered Sunday’s only hint of a surprise: a late sprint into the lead on Sunday’s final lap, though he was immediately reeled back into the lead group.

“It’s going to be an interesting couple of years ahead for us,” Pogacar said of his nascent rivalry with Vingegaard. “He’s stepped up from last year, he’s taken control of things from the beginning, and he’s proved he’s a strong rider.”

Going into this Tour, Pogacar most likely expected Vingegaard to be his greatest rival after Vingegaard’s improbable second-place finish last year.

In 2021, Jumbo-Visma’s top rider, Primoz Roglic, had dropped out of the Tour after a crash and Vingegaard took it upon himself to show what he could do . His performance was breathtaking — and unexpected. On the daunting Mont Ventoux, he left Pogacar behind to record one of the fastest times ever for that legendary climb.

Vingegaard’s entire career has been nothing short of a fairy tale played out on two wheels and on fast forward.

Six months before joining Jumbo-Visma in 2019, he was working part-time in a Danish factory where he gutted, cleaned and packed fish into ice-filled boxes. Before that, he worked at a fish auction. He credits those days of waking at 4 a.m. and all that hard manual labor in the shivering cold with helping him get to where he is now, at the top of the cycling world.

His Jumbo-Visma team, especially van Aert, was at his side all the way.

Van Aert had his own remarkable race, spending every day of the Tour except the first in the green jersey, which is awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points for stage finishes and in midrace sprint sections. But his biggest achievement over the past three weeks might have been his support of Vingegaard.

Van Aert was there for Vingegaard when his teammate needed him the most on the grueling Hautacam climb that turned out to be the deciding stage in the overall competition. He took off on a breakaway and mercilessly dictated a fast pace, challenging the notion, at 6-foot-3, that light, smaller riders like Vingegaard and Pogacar are naturally the best climbers.

Pogacar, who was battling Vingegaard for the overall lead, couldn’t keep up. As Vingegaard and van Aert kept climbing, Pogacar faded, looking like a car with a sputtering engine as the Jumbo-Visma teammates powered ahead.

The Jumbo-Visma team had won six of the Tour’s 20 stages entering Sunday’s finale. After Saturday’s stage, though, Vingegaard faced questions about his fairy-tale career. One reporter asked him about his rapid rise in the sport, and about how he could have finished 22nd in the 2019 Danish national time trial and then go on to nearly win Saturday’s time trial after three weeks of the Tour.

If Vingegaard was familiar at all with Tour history, or Danish racing history, it was possible that he expected the question. The only other Dane to win the Tour was Bjarne Riis in 1996, and a decade later Riis admitted that he had doped to win the race. Many past winners, though none recently, have either been caught doping or have admitted to doing so.

No, Vingegaard said, he did not go fast because he had doped. It happened because he and his team improved his aerodynamics by toiling in the wind tunnel and adjusting his body position and bike.

“We’re totally clean,” he said in his news conference, broadening his denial to include his entire team. “Every one of us. I can say that to every one of you. No one of us is taking anything illegal.”

High-altitude training camps and attention to detail — in food, in equipment, in preparation — were behind Jumbo-Visma’s rise, he said. “That’s why you have to trust,” he said.

Vingegaard appears to take sportsmanship seriously. On one descent during Stage 18, Pogacar crashed on a section of gravel as he and Vingegaard zoomed down a hill nearly side by side. But instead of taking advantage of Pogacar’s fall, Vingegaard waited for him down the road, allowing his rival to catch up .

After coming back together, Pogacar reached out in an expression of gratitude and the two clenched hands in a moment that will be replayed for years as an example of the good side of sports.

But only one of them was invited to climb atop the podium in Paris and celebrate on the Champs-Élysées. Only one got to pose for photos and family memories that will last a lifetime. And only one will be celebrated in his home country this summer as the king of cycling.

A series of ceremonies honoring Vingegaard already has been scheduled in Copenhagen, the city that hosted the start of this year’s Tour — the kickoff to Vingegaard’s ride to victory.

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Jonas Vingegaard wins the men's Tour de France

The Associated Press

The pack with Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, passes the Louvre Museum during the 21st stage of the men's Tour de France cycling race. Bertrand Guay/AP hide caption

The pack with Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, passes the Louvre Museum during the 21st stage of the men's Tour de France cycling race.

PARIS — Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark won his first Tour de France title on Sunday after coming out on top in a thrilling three-week duel with defending champion Tadej Pogacar.

The 25-year-old Vingegaard became the first Danish rider to win cycling's biggest race since Bjarne Riis in 1996.

Vingegaard, who was runner-up to Pogacar last year, 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.

Vingegaard celebrates his win in the men's Tour de France. Thibault Camus/AP hide caption

Vingegaard celebrates his win in the men's Tour de France.

Vingegaard also had the upper hand in the race against the clock, gaining more time on Pogacar in Saturday's individual time trial to effectively secure the title.

Pogacar finished runner-up overall and Geraint Thomas, the 2018 Tour winner, completed the podium.

Jasper Philipsen won Sunday's last stage — a mainly processional ride around Paris to the Champs-Elysees — in a sprint ahead of Dylan Groenewegen and Alexander Kristoff.

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Tour de France: Vingegaard stuns Pogacar in dominant stage 16 win – as it happened

The Danish rider produced a blistering time trial to take a giant step towards winning the Tour for a second consecutive year

• Jeremy Whittle’s stage 16 report from Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc
• 18 Jul 2023 Vingegaard leaves rivals trailing in race of truth
• 18 Jul 2023 Jonas Vingegaard speaks ...
• 18 Jul 2023 Top five on General Classification
• 18 Jul 2023 Top five on stage five
• 18 Jul 2023 Jonas Vingegaard wins the stage!
• 18 Jul 2023 Jonas Vingegaard rolls out
• 18 Jul 2023 Tadej Pogacar rolls out
• 18 Jul 2023 Wout van Aert takes the lead!
• 18 Jul 2023 Wout van Aert rolls out
• 18 Jul 2023 Michael Morkov finishes ...
• 18 Jul 2023 Stage 16 is go!
• 18 Jul 2023 Who’s wearing what jersey?
• 18 Jul 2023 Victory for Poels as Vingegaard stays in yellow
• 18 Jul 2023 The top five on General Classification
• 18 Jul 2023 Stage 16: Passy to Combloux (22.4km ITT)

Jonas Vingegaard wins the stage!

In what was arguably the greatest performance of his life, Jonas Vingegaard wins the stage in a time of 32min 36sec. Pogacar, who caught his two-minute man Carlos Rodríguez, finishes second 1min 38sec behind.

Vingegaard leaves rivals trailing in race of truth

Stage 16 report: Jonas Vingegaard deflated the hopes of Tadej Pogacar with a devastating performance in the 22.4km race of truth from Passy to Combloux to extend his overall lead in the Tour de France from 10sec to nearly two minutes. Jeremy Whittle reports …

Jonas Vingegaard speaks ...

“I was feeling great today,” says the stage winner and race leader. “I think it’s the best time trial I have ever done. I’m really proud of what I did today and I’m really happy about the victory. Today I even surprised myself with the time trial I did. I didn’t expect to do so well.”

He’s asked if his win today means the Tour de France is over. “No,” he says. “There’s still a lot of hard stages to come so we have to keep fighting the next days and we’re looking forward to it. I’m really, really happy with the victory today and I’m really proud of it. It’s my first time trial victory in the Tour de France.”

An email: “This raises the astonishing prospect that Pogacar is not the new Eddy Merckx but the new Felice Grimondi, who was tipped to be the greatest until the Belgian emerged and utterly eclipsed him,” writes Paul Griffin.

Top five on General Classification

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 63hr 06min 53sec

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +1min 48sec

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +8min 52sec

Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +8min 57sec

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +11min 15sec

Sepp Kuss, Pello Bilbao, Simon Yates, David Gaudu and Felix Gall make up the top 10.

Top five on stage five

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 32min 36sec

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +1min 38sec

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) +2min 51sec

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) +2min 55sec

Simon Yates (Jayco–AlUla) + 2min 58sec

Remi Cavagna, Adam Yates, Mattias Skjelmose, Mads Pedersen and David Gaudu make up the top 10.

Jonas Vingegaard: He takes another 10 seconds out of Pogacar, who isn’t having a bad day and is about to overtake Carlos Rodríguez, stretching the gap to 1min 32sec.

Jonas Vingegaard: The gap to Pogacar on the road goes out to 1min 22sec. If this time trial course was a just a bit longer, Vingegaard would catch and overtake Tadej Pogacar. It’s an astonishing effort from the Dane.

Jonas Vingegaard: At the third time check, the reigning champion has a lead of 1min 05sec over Pogacar. That is massive!!! He has three kilometres left to travel.

Tadej Pogacar: The live time on the road puts Jonas Vingegaard 51 seconds ahead of the Slovenian. He hasn’t changed his bike, in case you’re wondering. Pello Bilbao puts in a fine ride to keep his seventh place on GC ahead of Simon Yates. Gaudu is in ninth on GC, ahead of Guillaume Martin.

Jonas Vingegaard: The race leader hits the second time check with an official lead of 31 seconds over Pogacar. They’re both on the brutal climb to the finish.

Jonas Vingegaard: The maillot jaune has a lead of 30 seconds over Pogacar. David Gaudu comes home in fifth place on the day, two minutes ahead of his GC rival Guillaume Martin.

Tadej Pogacar: He hits the second time-check with 6.3km to go at 19min 36sec. Will he change his bike? Yes! He dismounts, throws his leg over the bar of his road bike and gets a push-off from his mechanic.

Vingegaard v Pogacar: Vingegaard has set off like a rocket and opened an unofficial gap of 36 seconds on his rival for top spot on GC.

Tadej Pogacar: He passes under the 10 kilometre banner, approaching the climb, 30 seconds down on Vingegaard. Further up the course, Simon Yates is three seconds quicker than Wout van Aert at the final time check.

The Yates twins: Adam was 47 seconds slower than Vingegaard at the first time check, but just three slower than his sibling.

Jonas Vingegaard: He hits the first time check at 7.1km, a full 16 seconds quicker than Pogacar. He’s flying!

Tadej Pogacar: The Slovenian hits the first time check 25 seconds quicker than Stefan Kung, who was previously quickest at that point.

Vingegaard: “Today you show the world who is strongest,” says a voice from the team car in the Dane’s earpiece.

Eurosport: Those on comms for the network suspect the graphic that put Vingegaard 20 seconds ahead of Van Aert after just five minutes of racing must be incorrect. I’m not so sure.

Jonas Vingegaard: After five minutes of racing, Jonas Vingegaard has taken 20 seconds out of Wout van Aert’s time at the same point. Crikey!

The Yates twins: “You haven’t mentioned the Yates twins yet,” writes June. “How did they do?”

They’re out on the road as I type, June. Simon has nine kilometres to go and is two seconds off the pace set by Van Aert.

Jonas Vingegaard rolls out

Stitched into a yellow skinsuit that looks painted on, the race leader and defending champion is last man out of the starter’s hut, taking care to avoid the slippery section on the first corner that did for a few riders earlier this afternoon.

Tadej Pogacar rolls out

In second place on GC, just 10 seconds behind Jonas Vingegaard, the two-times Tour winner from Slovenia rolls down the ramp.

Wout van Aert takes the lead!

The Belgian knocks 15 seconds off Remi Cavagna’s time, coming home in 35min 27sec. The Frenchman waves to the camera and vacates his hotseat. Au revoir, Remi. Chapeau.

Jai Hindley sets off: In fifth place on GC, the Australian pedals his way out of the hut. David Gaudu, on whom I foolishly stuck £5 to win this year’s Tour, is further up the road. I could have bought a pint with that money. Or just thrown it in the bin.

An email: “Wout did NOT change bikes, and he knows a thing or three about bikes and time trials,” writes Jeremy Boyce.

Wout van Aert: Heavy is the head that wears the crown and Remi Cavagny is looking a little weighed down on the leader’s throne. It looks like Wout van Aert is about to take the lead, one the Frenchman probably expected to lose some time ago. Sepp Kuss sets off from the starter’s hut.

Guillaume Martin: Tenth on General Classification, the Cofidis rider sets off. We’re at the business end of this time trial now.

Wout van Aert The Beglian was fourth fastest at the bottom of the climb to the finish and is seven seconds slower than Cavagna, whose minutes in the leader’s throne look like they could be numbered.

Julian Alaphilippe: Smiling under the visor of his aerodynamic helmet and waving to the crowd, the French legend crosses the finish line 1min 43sec down.

Ciccone does it! He is 40 seconds quicker than Neilson Powless on the climb and guarantees himself the polka-dot jersey for another day at least. There’s plenty more climbing to be done, however, tomorrow’s stage has two category one climbs, a category two and a HC. Saturday’s stage into Le Markstein Fellering has several brutish ascents too.

Giulio Ciccone: In the polka-dot jersey, the Italian is well on his way up the final climb, having swapped his TT bike for his climbing conveyance. He needs to hit the climb at 30min 29sec to beat Neilson Powless to take maximum points, although some of the GC lads could hoover them up later.

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Vingegaard has first Tour de France win all but secured

ROCAMADOUR, France (AP) — Jonas Vingegaard thundered through the last serious test of the Tour de France to increase his overall lead on Saturday and all but guarantee winning cycling's biggest race.

After three weeks of exhausting racing, the Jumbo-Visma leader dug deep in his reserves to deliver yet another impressive performance in a long time trial in southern France.

“It means everything, it’s really incredible,” Vingegaard said. “It’s the biggest thing within cycling and we did it.”

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 19 seconds behind winner Wout van Aert, his key teammate.

Vingegaard and Van Aert hugged each other warmly at the finish and the Danish rider was emotional after he was greeted by his wife and daughter after the stage.

“Having my two girls on the finish line means even more to me," said Vingegaard, who improved on last year's runner-up finish.

“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."

Van Aert, a versatile competitor with multiple titles and wins across the sport’s most prestigious events, has been crucial in pacing Vingegaard through the mountain stages. His third stage win this month was his ninth overall.

Van Aert, who also claimed the best sprinter's green jersey, has proved he can win on all surfaces and could be a leader in his own right in any given team. He has so far deflected talk of mounting a challenge for the yellow jersey in the future.

“This has been the question over the last few days, I think," Van Aert said. “I have answered a thousand times. Right now, it’s just an incredible feeling to win this Tour with the team and to win three stages and the green jersey. For the moment, I don’t want to talk about the future."

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.

With the final day of the race on Sunday usually uneventful until the last sprint on the Champs-Elysees, Vingegaard will become the first rider from Denmark to win the Tour since 1996, barring a crash or a last-minute incident.

The time trial marked the final hurdle of an epic race that has featured a thrilling duel between Vingegaard and two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar.

Vingegaard 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.

“The battle between me and Jonas for the yellow jersey has been very special," Pogacar said. “We have some very interesting next two or three years ahead of us. Jonas has stepped up his game this year."

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.

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Results and Highlights from the 2024 Giro d’Italia

Check out stage-by-stage recaps and overall standings of the Italian Grand Tour.

Stage 7: Foligno - Perugia (Individual Time Trial), 40.6 km

Stage 6: torre del lago puccini - rapolano terme, 180 km, stage 5: genova - lucca, 178 km, stage 4: acqui terme - andora, 190 km, stage 3: novara - fossano, 166 km, stage 2: san francesco al campo - santuario di oropa, 161 km, stage 1: venaria reale - torino, 140 km.

Check out stage-by-stage recaps of the action below.

Stage 8: Spoleto to Prati de Tivo, 152 km

Stage Winner: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Race Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

We know he can win races with dramatic breakaways, but it turns out Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) also can perfectly play out a sprint. In today's race, he just narrowly outsprinted Daniel Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe) and Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) for the win at the top of the steep final ascent to the finish.

In case you were wondering, Pogačar has continued to opt for the full pink kit after the sartorial debacle earlier this week .

Today marked the first major mountain stage of the Giro with some of the classic climbs we love to see. Right from the start, it was clear that riders were going to be attempting breakaways before, during and after every climb—mountain stages at the Giro are often where we see unlikely stage winners thanks to a breakaway that comes as a surprise and actually sticks.

By 20 km into the race, a large group had formed at the front, but only 20 seconds separated them from the full might of the peloton. The group ebbed and flowed, and was cut down to 14 riders by just under 100 km to go. Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Romain Bardet (dsm–firmenich PostNL) and Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) were a few of the riders making moves in the lead group, and their lead stretched to over 2 minutes ahead of the peloton at 61 km to go.

But when a team like UAE Team Emirates is chasing the breakaway to preserve Pogačar's overall lead, does it stand much of a chance?

“We thought the breakaway had a good chance, to be honest,” said Thomas in a post-race interview . “Obviously, UAE set a good tempo on the climb, and I guess because it was still quite close, I don’t know if they decided to go for the stage in the beginning, but they certainly decided to go for it in the end.”

As the group hit 15 km to go, heading towards the final climb into Prati di Tivo, the gap had dropped to just over 30 seconds. While several riders made valiant efforts to hold off the peloton, Pogačar sped into the finish with a group of seven riders and ultimately took the sprint.

However, the GC remained relatively unchanged, since seven of the top finishers on the stage were in the top eight in the GC, which is now led by Pogačar by 2:40 over Martinez and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers).

"I wasn't expecting this today," Pogačar said in the post-race press conference, making him pretty much the only person in the world who wasn't expecting it.

165 riders rolled down the little pink ramp this morning, each one minute apart, for first time trial of this year’s Giro.

Vicious crosswinds pushed riders across the road at points, their giant disc wheels acting as windsails, slowing down even some of the most skilled time triallists around.

And there is arguably no rider more skilled on a TT bike than INEOS Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna, one of the world’s fastest men in the race against the clock.

“Top Ganna” is what the commentators called him, saying that everyone else looked like a passenger plane next to the fighter jet that is Ganna.

However, the 40.6-kilometer stage included a mighty pitch in the final stretch, gaining over two-hundred-meters over the last four kilometers, whose multi-digit grades benefitted some of the punchier riders in the bunch. After all, today’s time trail ran from Foligno to Perugia, across the undulating hills of Umbria.

By the time Geraint Thomas—who started the day in second place in the GC standings—rolled down the ramp, his INEOS Grenadiers teammates held all three positions on the podium (Ganna, Thymen Arensmen, Magnus Sheffield). By the time he crossed the line, those results held.

But there was only one rider left in the starting tent behind Thomas: current pink jersey, race favorite, and generational talent across a variety of disciplines, Tadej Pogačar.

Going back to his stunning time trial on the penultimate stage of the 2020 Tour de France, where he snatched the yellow jersey from Primož Roglič, Pogačar has displayed that he too is one of the world’s great time triallists.

And today, that skill on a TT bike threw a wrench directly into the works of INEOS’s 1-2-3 day, as Pogačar made up over a minute on the stage’s final six kilometers. Pogačar finished seventeen seconds ahead of Ganna, giving the UAE Team Emirates superstar the stage win.

A bunch of INEOS riders who couldn’t quite nip Pogačar. Seems to be one of the themes emerging from this year’s Giro.

Pogačar’s ride put nearly two additional minutes into his nearest rivals in the GC standings, increasing his overall lead from 46 seconds to 2:36.

Meanwhile, BORA-hansgrohe’s Dani Martinez, who entered the day in third place overall, bested Geraint Thomas by thirteen seconds on the stage, putting him ten seconds ahead of Thomas in the GC standings.

“There was a lot of preparations for this, a lot of ups and downs,” Pogačar said. “I’m super happy that today I felt good. I paced myself until the climb and then the climb, full gas.”

Geraint Thomas, meanwhile, wore a subtle look of disappointment after the race.

“I tried to ride within myself and when it was time to go, I just lacked it a little bit. It is what it is. It’s just one of those days.”

Thomas ended his post-race interview abruptly when the interview reminded him that his teammates did an excellent job on the day, without actually asking a question

“Thanks,” he said sternly, taking a sip of his drink.

Stage Winner: Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar)

May 9, 2024—Looking at the profile of Stage 6, you might think that the day would have been relatively mellow. One-hundred-eighty kilometers, minimal elevation, a pair of category-four climbs. However, thanks to a trio of gravel sectors—the strade bianche of Tuscany—today’s stage was anything but.

What many thought might be a launching pad for Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who won March’s Strade Bianche with a stunning eighty-kilometer solo break, ended up seeing a series of breakaways, none of which stuck.

Until one did. And, for the second day in a row, the break stayed away.

The trio of Movistar’s Pelayo Sánchez , Soudal Quick-Step’s Julian Alaphilippe, and Jayco AlUla’s Luke Plapp had a lead that stretched out to as much as two and a half minutes as the race entered its third and final gravel sector. But INEOS Grenadiers set a blistering pace behind, quickly whittling the three-man breakaway’s lead to less than thirty seconds with just a few kilometers to go.

But the gap stayed at around twenty seconds as the Plapp, Alaphilippe, and Sánchez passed under the 1 km to go banner. Alaphilippe launched early, and Sanchez responded. Though Plapp was hanging on their wheels, it was clear that this was a two-man race to the finish.

In his post-race interview, Sánchez was asked if he knew what he had just accomplished. “No,” Sánchez replied. “This is amazing. I don’t have words. Crazy, crazy day for me. I thought today that I could be in the breakaway, but I could never imagine winning here.”

Sánchez also admitted that, even though he spent the last several dozen kilometers working with Plapp and Alaphilippe, he tried several times to put time into his mates in the breakaway. “I tried to drop [Plapp and Alaphilippe], but it was impossible for me,” he said. “So, I tried at the end with the sprint. Luckily, I was the fastest.”

Plapp, who spent much of the day in the virtual pink jersey, said after the race, “That was an insane day. The race was out of control, the whole race. It was ridiculous for the first eighty kilometers.”

“The three of us worked reasonably well to the finish,” Plapp added. “We played games a bit. I was half-eyes looking for time and half-eyes looking for the stage, so I ended up riding a bit harder.”

Asked if he was thinking about the pink jersey during his breakaway, Plapp said, “No, no, no. I know (UAE Team Emirates) were never going to let it go. You could see from the gaps they were keeping, they weren’t willing to let the jersey go.”

A Win for the Breakaway as the Peloton Couldn’t Get It Together

Stage Winner: Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis)

May 8, 2024—Another flat-ish day, another sprint finish. That was supposed to be the script for Wednesday’s fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia. But if there’s a theme emerging from the early stages of this year’s Giro, it’s to expect the unexpected.

Because in a move that seems ever-more-rare, the day’s breakaway stuck, the charging group of sprinters behind unable to catch up.

At the end of the 178-kilometer stage, Benjamin Thomas captured Cofidis’s first win this season. Behind him were EF Education-EasyPost’s Michael Valgren, Andrea Pietrobon of Polti Kometa, and Groupama-FDJ’s Enzo Paleni. The group spent about half of the day with a lead of around one minute over the peloton.

Eight seconds behind Paleni, Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan—the current maglia ciclamino— led the rest of the peloton across the line.

With 5 kilometers to the finish, the four-man breakaway had a solid forty-second lead and it seemed as though the peloton couldn’t organize themselves enough to reel them back in. Ineos Grenadiers had the most notable attack, but pulled off after the 3-kilometer mark, ostensibly working to protect their lead man Geraint Thomas’s time.

From there, nothing much materialized and the breakaway was allowed to duke it out themselves for the win.

“I said maybe today’s my day,” said the French Thomas, who captured both his first WorldTour and Grand Tour victories with the win. “Everything is perfect today. I knew the final because I trained there sometimes. I knew the Montemagno in the final, and it helped me, knowing the cobbles and the corners. It's a nice thing to win in Italy. It means a lot to me.”

Thomas, who is a seasoned track racer, likened the four-man break to a “long, long team pursuit.”

Valgren added that the topography of the parcours aided the breakaway’s chances.

“It was actually only with three or four ks to go (that we thought we could win) because you always think the peloton will take 10-seconds-per-kilometer more or less,” Valgren said after the race. “We kept working well together and there was in our favor kind of downhill. Chapeau to the other guys for working well together. We didn't start to play the games, so it was nice.”

The one thing that was expected was that nothing much changed in the GC battle. UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar remains forty-six seconds clear of Geraint Thomas and forty-seven seconds ahead of BORA-hansgrohe’s lead man, Dani Martinez.

Jonathan Milan Wins Sprint Finish

Stage Winner: Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)

May 7, 2024—For the second straight day, the Giro d’Italia ended with a flat sprint that was almost nabbed with a daring and unexpected last-minute attack.

The 190-kilometer route from Acqui Terme to Andora started with a gradual ride into the day’s only categorized climb, the category 3 Colle del Melogno, where the KOM points were taken by Intermarché-Wanty’s Lilian Calmejane. After that, it was an almost wholly downsloping back half of the stage, ending with a straight, flat shot into the seaside town of Andora.

If the peloton felt a bit jumpy heading into Andora, it no doubt had to do with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Geraint Thomas’s (INEOS Grenadiers) almost successful late break in yesterday’s sprint stage.

And then, just like yesterday, a solo attack was launched with plenty of racing left. Today, it was Ineos-Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna, one of the fastest solo bike racers that’s ever lived, who attacked at the foot of the day’s final pitch, the Capo Mele, with 4 km to go. However, the long-distance attack was once again in vain, as he was caught and swallowed up with just a few hundred meters to go.

Moments later, another Italian, Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan, launched a furious and commanding 300-meter sprint that would net him his second Giro stage win, exactly one year to the day from his first.

Meanwhile, Dani Martínez, who entered the day in third place in the GC standings, suffered a late-stage mechanical. Lucky for the BORA-hansgrohe racer, it was within the final 3 kilometers, meaning he was awarded the same time as the bunch ahead and lost no extra time to Pogačar and Thomas.

In sad news, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) slid out on a slick descent with about 62 kilometers left, crashing out of the race with an injury. It was a brutal reminder of the Eritrean’s luck, who, moments after becoming the first Black African rider to win a Grand Tour stage in 2022’s Giro, suffered a freak injury when the cork from his celebratory champagne bottle shot him in the eye, causing him to abandon the race with a hemorrhage in his eye.

“We saw Ganna going full gas in the last climb, and we just had to catch him,” said Milan of his Italian track teammate. “Today, the guys did such an amazing job. This experience was special because my parents were here today. I’m really happy about it,” Milan, who won last year’s maglia ciclamino, added.

After the race, second-place finisher Kaden Groves said the day’s blisteringly high speeds made the stage “quite scary at times.” And when asked about how his Alpecin-Deceuninck team was shaping up over the Giro’s first week, Groves said, “We’re getting there.”

Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier Takes Sprint Victory Amidst GC Favorites’ Late Attack

Stage Winner: Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)

May 6, 2024 – The sprinters had their first chance to shine, as the race’s third stage from Novara to Fassano featured just 750 meters of elevation over 166 kilometers.

However, it wasn’t without a bit of drama, as the race’s biggest GC favorites launched a thrilling attack over the last four kilometers, throwing a wrench into what was expected to be a straightforward day. After an early move from EF-Education EasyPost’s Mikkel Honore, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) followed, forming a small, three-man breakaway that, for a moment, looked as though it might stay away from the group.

Honoré was swallowed up by the group with about 1 kilometer to go, and given the day’s high pace and series of breakaways, there was some thought that Pogačar and Thomas’s attack might just stick. However, the two GC men were caught with about 400 meters to go, setting up the bunch sprint everyone expected the day to end with.

Soudal Quick-Step’s Tim Merlier nipped a group at the line that included Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan and Intermarche Wanty’s Biniam Girmay, who rounded out the day’s podium, along with Arkea’s Jenthe Biermans and dsm-Firmeninch PostNL’s Tobias Lund Andersen.

After a masterful recovery from a late crash to win Sunday’s second stage, Pogačar started the day in the maglia rosa , forty-five seconds clear of Dani Martínez of BORA-hansgrohe and Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers. By the time stage 3 was over, those standings remained exactly the same.

“It wasn’t the plan,” Thomas said of the two-man attack over the closing kilometers. “We just wanted to stay out of trouble.”

He added that, over the final few hundred meters, it took everything he had to keep contact with Pogačar. “I was just trying to hold his wheel,” Thomas said, admitting that the attack was never part of the day’s plan.

“It was the hardest victory so far,” stage winner Merlier said of the unexpected chase he and his group of sprinters found themselves in as Thomas and Pogačar rode away. Merlier said he hesitated, causing him to miss out on his leadout man, and eventually forcing him to attack directly into the wind without any support.

Tadej Pogačar Wins Stage 2 and Takes the Maglia Rosa

May 5, 2024 - Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates wins Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia 2024 and takes the Maglia Rosa. Twenty-seven seconds behind, Dani Martínez (Bora-hansgrohe) takes second, and Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) is third.

It was a masterful performance by UAE Team Emirates once Pogačar made it back to the front of the peloton after a small crash due to a front flat tire. The Slovenian leads Thomas and Martinez by 45" in the General Classification.

In the post-race interview, Pogačar was asked if he panicked after crashing in the lead-up to the last climb. “Not really. I was quite calm. I hit a hole in the city and had a super fast flat tire. There was a bit of confusion. I wanted to stop before the corner, but the DS said, ‘No, no, after the corner.’ I was feeling good. The team was super good today. And then we set the pace that we like and it was perfect,” said the race leader.

“I didn’t know the climb well. Everybody was maybe doing this climb for the first time, and it was hard to guess where to do the [hard] pacing, but I think we did a really good job today. And it was super good the last pull of Rafał Majka in the hard part so that I could attack,” Pogačar added.

“I just wanted a stage win today and some gap. Test the legs a little bit. And the [goal] was to take the pink jersey. Now I can relax a little bit in the next few days with the team and we stay safe in the sprints.”

Watch the final kilometer of Stage 2 on the Giro d’Italia’s YouTube Channel

Geraint Thomas of INEOS Grenadiers found himself meeting his limit in today’s stage. “It was so hard to follow, but I knew if I tried to keep going I would completely blow up. I felt bad for sitting on Ben [O’Connor], but I was on the limit for a while there,” said Thomas in the post-race interview.

Regarding Pogačar’s crash, Thomas said, “Honestly, I didn’t know until I was on the climb, and someone said Tadej was back. The plan was to go to the front, not to attack, but to stay safe on the front.”

Narváez Upstages Pogačar to Secure Stage 1 Victory and Maglia Rosa

Stage Winner: Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers)

Race Leader: Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers)

May 4, 2024 - The opening stage of the Giro d’Italia produced plenty of fireworks and a surprise winner on the line. Team UAE Emirates set it up perfectly for Tadej Pogačar on the opening stage. After some long-lasting breakaways were caught, Pogačar broke free in the last four kilometers with Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers) and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe). The Slovenian just couldn’t gap those two rivals, and it set it up for a sprint finish. In a bit of a surprise, it was Narváez, the 27-year-old Ecuadorian national champion, outsprinting Schachmann (second on the stage) and Pogačar (third). Narváez earns the first Maglia Rosa of the 2024 Tour of Italy.

Though he didn’t win the stage, Pogačar will head into Stage 2 with an advantage over many of his top GC rivals. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) was 10 seconds behind Pogačar on the stage and, after factoring in time bonuses, 14 seconds behind Pogačar in the GC standings.

Watch Stage 1 Highlights on the Giro d’Italia’s YouTube Channel

“It was a great feeling. We knew it was going to be a stage for me, and I worked a lot on it,” Narváez said in the post-race interview. “Following the best guy in the world on the climb was really hard, so it’s a special victory today. It’s still hurting me now. It was really hard—really, really hard. But in the end, I made it.”

“I think [Pogačar] went too long in the sprint, 200 meters after a really hard stage, and I did a short sprint, and in the end, I took the victory. For me, it’s amazing. There aren’t many opportunities in a Grand Tour to get the maglia rosa on the first day because you have a bunch sprint, a TT, or a different stage. Today was a good opportunity. I worked really, really hard for it,” added Narváez.

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Giro leader Tadej Pogacar wins his third stage in the first week

P RATO DI TIVO, Italy (AP) — Tadej Pogacar's command of the Giro d’Italia earned him a third stage win on Saturday in just the first week.

Pogacar was first to Prato di Tivo on the summit finish of the eighth stage, the hardest of the race so far.

The Slovenian cyclist had time — and energy — to raise his arms in celebration as he crossed the line, edging out Daniel Martinez and Ben O’Connor in a sprint to add more seconds to his already considerable lead.

“I was not expecting it at all today,” Pogacar said. “But as a team we rode super well from the beginning and we come with a good time gap to the last climb. And the team did a super good job to the finish."

Pogacar blew everyone away in Friday’s time trial to strengthen his grip on the pink jersey, and has extended his advantage to 2 minutes, 40 seconds over Martinez. Last year’s runner-up Geraint Thomas was 2:58 behind.

It is the biggest advantage this early in the Giro since 2002.

The race hit the high mountains of the Apennines and the stage was rated five stars for maximum difficulty.

It featured the race’s second uphill finish — a top-category climb of more than 14 kilometers (nine miles) to Prato di Tivo — and the riders were constantly ascending or descending, with no flat sectors on the 152-kilometer (94-mile) route from Spoleto that also included two other categorized climbs.

“The teammates wanted to go for the stage win as soon as we survived the first long categorized climb," said Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates.

"They did a super good job until the final climb. And then, at the bottom when I see that our guys are still good, I was confident that we can win today.”

UAE Team Emirates controlled the pace of the peloton, preventing a 14-man breakaway from grabbing any insurmountable advantage. The gap came down from a maximum of around 2:30 to just 35 seconds at the start of the final climb.

Pogacar was led up by his teammates and, while his own expected attack never materialized, he was immediately on the wheel of any others to set himself up for the final sprint.

“They're just incredible,” Thomas said. “Hats off to them today because they pulled hard and they really set it up for Tadej. And he does what he does.”

Sunday’s ninth stage is a 214-kilometer (133-mile) route from Avezzano to Napoli that features just one fourth-category climb. It is the second longest day of this Giro and comes just before the race’s first rest day.

The Giro ends in Rome on May 26.

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

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Tour champion Vingegaard still hopes to be in ‘top shape’ for this year’s race after bad crash

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard pedals on his way to win the fifth stage of the Tirreno Adriatico cycling race, from Torricella Sicura to Valle Castellana, Italy, Friday, March 8, 2024. Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike a month after the bad crash that left him with a collarbone and several ribs broken, and the Danish rider aims to compete this summer at cycling’s biggest race. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP, File)

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PARIS (AP) — Two-time defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back on his bike, just a month after a bad crash that left him several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

And the Danish rider is still hoping to compete at this year’s Tour, which starts in seven weeks.

“I feel good, it’s improving day by day,” Vingegaard said in a video released by his team, Visma–Lease a Bike. “I still have some things to recover from, but it’s going better and better. Of course I hope to be there at the start of the Tour de France. We don’t know exactly how my shape and how my recovery will go, but I will do everything I can to get there in my top shape.”

Vingegaard was hospitalized in Spain last month following the crash that involved other top riders during a chaotic Tour of the Basque Country. He also sustained a broken collarbone and a pulmonary contusion during the accident, which came less than three months before the start of the Tour de France on June 29.

He was back in the saddle on Tuesday.

“This is the first time back on the bike for me riding outside, and it’s really nice to finally be able to ride like normal again,” Vingegaard said in the video, standing by his bicycle. “Finally to be able to ride on the road is really amazing and I’m really looking forward to taking the next steps.”

Before the crash, Vingegaard had been considered one of the top favorites at the Tour again alongside his rival Tadej Pogacar, who is aiming for a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double this year.

Vingegaard was hardly moving when he was put into an ambulance wearing an oxygen mask and neck brace after the crash with less than 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) remaining in the stage. The pileup also took out Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, along with several other riders, many of whom needed hospital treatment.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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Mark Cavendish: 'He loves the doubters' - Breakaway team assess what Brit's win means for Tour de France hopes

Published 10/05/2024 at 12:41 GMT

Once more, Mark Cavendish was victorious in a sprint stage, this time at the Tour of Hungary on Thursday. But the Brit's triumph was more notable for what it says about his latest, looming attempt to break Eddy Merckx's stage win record at the Tour de France. Eurosport's 'The Breakaway' team delved into the significance of Cavendish's display, as well as the "naysayers" that may question his form.

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‘On fire’ - Nys takes victory on Stage 4 of Tour of Hungary to retain race lead

• As it happened: GC riders battle out stage 8 in summit finish sprint

Tour de Hongrie: Thibau Nys grabs glory on final climb for stage 3 win and GC lead

Ulissi pushes to second, Buchmann fades to third on queen stage

Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) scored his second mountain-top finish victory in a month as he caught and passed Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the dying metres of stage 4 at the Tour de Hongrie to win at Gyöngyös-Kékestető.

The German Champion had looked set for glory after attacking just outside the flamme rouge on the 12km closing climb, but Nys sped past in the dying metres to take the win as Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) came through for second ahead of Buchmann.

Nys now takes over the GC lead of the five-day race ahead of the hilltop finish at Etyek on stage and a challenging hilly final day featuring three second-category climbs on Sunday. He has four seconds in hand over Ulissi, while Buchmann lies in third at six seconds.

"It's incredible, I came here for the stage of tomorrow and the last day," Nys said after his win. "Today we just wanted to test the legs and see where we can end. I didn't really know how to react after the first two easy stages, I felt the legs were a bit lazy, but the team did a hell of a job, and Mathias was unbelievably strong. In the end, I found the perfect legs to make it happen.

"I had to be patient. The last 500 meters kicked really steep so I just knew I had to save something for one big shot in the end. It looked like we were not closing in on Buchmann, but then in the end I went all out and we came fast from behind, then I knew it was going to happen."

The GC battle expected to unfold on the queen stage of the race only came late on the day’s final climb, which saw riders battle up an average gradient of 5.6% towards the top. It was Bora-Hansgrohe who kicked things off with Ben Zwiehoff making a move 3.3km from the top before Buchmann took to the front soon afterwards.

The German team settled into a hard rhythm, dropping riders left, right, and centre as the select group came towards the finale. It was at around 1,300 metres from the line when Buchmann decided to make his move, jumping clear in an attempt to take his first win since early 2020.

He quickly built a gap and looked to be racing on his way to a win and the overall lead, but the chasers closed in as the finish neared, with Nys leading the way.

The 21-year-old, who won stage 2 at last month’s Tour de Romandie, his first road race of the season, sped past in the final 150 metres to deny Buchmann the win, leading home Ulissi as Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) rounded out the top five further back.

The GC moves had come after the early break was brought back midway up the final climb of the day. Astana Qazaqstan riders Michael Mørkøv and Yevgeniy Gidich had been joined in the break by Manuel Pénalver (Polti-Kometa), Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders-Baloise), Balázs Rózsa (Epronex-Hungary), and Christian Bagatin (MBH Bank-Colpack-Ballan).

Deweirdt managed to extend his mountain classification lead along the way, but their time out front drew to a close on the final difficulty of the stage, with sprinter Kristian Sbaragli (Corratec-Vini Fantini) trying a brave but doomed counter-move.

Back in the peloton, DSM-Firmenich PostNL, UAE Team Emirates, and Bora-Hansgrohe made the pacemaking ahead of the late GC battle, though it was a rider from US team Lidl-Trek who would ride off with the big prize at the top of the mountain.

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Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Prior to joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.

As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Dani also oversees How to Watch guides and works on The Leadout newsletter throughout the season. Their favourite races are Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix and their favourite published article is from the 2024 edition of the latter: 'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix

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Tour de Hongrie: Thibau Nys extends his lead with victory on stage 4

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