Tour de France: Jumbo-Visma's Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard retains title
- Planet Sport writer
- 23 July 2023
Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour de France for the second time in a row after with Jordi Meeus sneaking in to steal the final stage victory.
Jonas Vingegaard was crowned Tour de France champion for a second consecutive year as Jordi Meeus won the final stage in a photo finish on the Champs-Elysees.
As the Paris finale came down to the customary sprint finish, all eyes were on Jasper Philipsen, winner of four stages in this Tour, and Dylan Groenewegen on the right-hand side of the road as they bounded over the cobbles, but it was Meeus who shot down the left to nick it with a bike throw.
Four riders came to the line almost together, with Philipsen taking second, Groenewegen third and Mads Pedersen fourth.
Vingegaard came home arm-in-arm with his Jumbo-Visma team-mates to confirm his victory by a margin of seven minutes and 29 seconds from two-time winner Tadej Pogacar, with Britain's Adam Yates in third.
Meeus, making his Tour debut, could not immediately celebrate his win, looking around at his rivals as he asked if any of them could say for sure who finished first.
But when the result was confirmed, the Belgian celebrated wildly with his Bora-Hansgrohe team-mates.
"I knew from the previous sprints that more was possible than the results I showed so far and today everything went perfectly and I'm super happy to finish it off," he said.
"I felt good all day…and from the moment we went full gas my legs felt incredibly good. Marco Haller did a perfect job with positioning, I had the wheel of Pedersen then I could just come out of his slipstream and catch it on the line.
"It's my first Tour, it was a super nice experience already so far and to take the win today is an indescribable feeling."
