An East Tyrolean also shone at Vingegaard’s show

For a long time it was a fight for a few seconds, but in the final week Jonas Vingegaard managed to build up a solid lead. With 7:29 minutes behind Tadej Pogacar, the Dane drove into Paris yesterday as the celebrated winner of the Tour de France, as he did last year. The great discovery of the 110th Tour of France was actually something else. Felix Gall, the 25-year-old from East Tyrol, surprised in the three weeks of the Grande Boucle with an offensive riding style, which brought him a victory on the queen stage in the Alps, second and third place, eighth place overall, a day in a mountain jersey and a lot of sympathy in the cycling world.

Vingegaard wants to treat himself to a Dürüm this week at home in Glingøre, his place of residence in northern Jutland, as he revealed after crossing the finish line, the white wine lover will have downed a glass or two last night after the reception on the Champs Elysees. Totally deserved.

He fended off the last desperate attack from his Slovenian rival with ease on Saturday in the Vosges. He was happy to leave the victory of the day to him. Shortly after crossing the finish line, Trine’s cell phone rang, Crown Prince Frederik was on the line. “He told her that he thinks it’s very impressive that I’ve won the Tour twice in a row,” revealed Vingegaard.

“Was hard to crack him”

Until this luck, it was a tough struggle in the many mountains of this tour. “It was really tough to crack,” admitted Vingegaard. The rivalry between the two will shape the next few years, agrees cycling legend Eddy Merckx. “In the high mountains, Jonas is the stronger at the moment,” believes the 78-year-old. The Belgian also praised Pogacar and described the Slovenian, who was already doing well in the classics in spring this year, as “the more complete driver”.

The 24-year-old, whose UAE assistant Adam Yates also finished third on the podium in Paris, defiantly countered: “I cracked myself. No one else.” Pogacar was impaired by a fractured scaphoid in the spring and was unable to prepare ideally for the tour. Vingegaard, on the other hand, does. And he hasn’t had enough for this season: The Danish lightweight will also compete alongside his jumbo teammate, Giro triumphant Primoz Roglic, at the Vuelta, which begins on August 26th, as he revealed.

“It was a moment that opened my eyes to what’s possible,” said a proud Gall, who is the next Austrian in the top ten after Adolf Christian (third/1957), Peter Luttenberger (fifth/1996) and Georg Totschnig (seventh/2004). On Saturday he climbed the last difficult climb with the first violinists Vingegaard and Pogacar and was only put in his place by Pogacar in the sprint to the finish in Le Markstein. The conclusion of his first Tour of France, which could hardly have been better.

Completion in the sprint to Meeus

The other Austrians weren’t the main actors, but they were hard-working supporting actors to the end. Felix Großschartner as Pogacar’s loyal helper. Michael Gogl, who also played a part in Jasper Philipsen’s four stage wins. In addition Gregor Mühlberger and Marco Haller as well as Patrick Konrad. The latter still had reason to celebrate yesterday when their Bora teammate Jordi Meeus won the final stage in Paris in a sprint ahead of Philipsen.