From the Grand Départ in Copenhagen to the denouement in Paris, a besotted nation has been hanging on to Jonas Vingegaard’s coat tails.
On Sunday, the Champs Élysées turned steadfastly Danish, with a dash of impetuous Slovenian and a hint of deadpan Welsh. Vingegaard swept into Paris transported by his near-infallible Jumbo-Visma team to win the Tour de France at his second attempt, from defending champion Tadej Pogacar and the peloton’s Mister Consistency, Geraint Thomas, who took his third podium finish in four years.
Twelve months ago, it was Pogacar, the Slovenian prodigy leading the big-budget UAE Emirates team, who was expected to win serial yellow jerseys.
Now however the landscape has changed and it is the unflappable Dane, and his big-budget team, who seem invincible. As the Belgian Jasper Philipsen sprinted to his second stage win in the frenetic final dash to the line, Vingegaard and his teammates fanned out across the cobbles and joined arms, to bask in their success.