This Tour de France 2022 will have been Danish from start to finish. From the start in Copenhagen on July 1st to the coronation of Jonas Vingegaard, all including the 4 Danish stage victories. The yellow jersey made a triumphant return to the country on Wednesday, celebrated by tens of thousands of people.
Escort of fighter planes, convertible motorcade and large crowd in the capital: Jonas Vingegaard was welcomed like a king.
“It’s completely insane”
The rider from the Jumbo-Visma team was honored from the balcony of the capital’s town hall, the site of major celebrations of Danish sport. “It’s completely fantastic, completely crazy, I don’t realize,” said the shy Jonas Vingegaard in front of a tide of people colored with red and white Danish flags.
Two hours earlier, two F-16s from the Danish Air Force had earlier escorted the small private plane chartered to transport the winner of the Great Loop and his family. The climber then boarded a convertible through the streets of Copenhagen.
Thousands of people had massed along the route to hope to type in the hand of the cyclist. Jonas Vingegaard must then join the famous Tivoli amusement park, located just next door, for a new festive ceremony.
Second winner in Danish history
The 25-year-old rider is only the second Danish winner on the Tour de France. In 1996, Bjarne Riis had won, but he admitted to having doped after his career. “We are completely clean, each of us in the team,” assured Jonas Vingegaard after his victory in Paris.
On Thursday afternoon, he will finally travel to his small town of Glyngøre in western Denmark to continue celebrating his historic success for the country. More than 10,000 people are expected, six times the number of inhabitants of the town.
