Champion-in-waiting Vingegaard leads Tour de France back to Paris

Champion-in-waiting Jonas Vingegaard leads the Tour de France peloton into Paris on Sunday on the final day of a storied race animated by a tense tussle with two-time former winner Tadej Pogacar.

The winners' jerseys for the various disciplines will be awarded - yellow for overall champion Vingegaard, white for Pogacar as best youngster, Giulio Ciccone polka dot for best climber and Jasper Philipsen the green for his four sprint finish wins.

Vingegaard, the champion also in 2022, described the race as "the best in the world" after three intense weeks that started in Bilbao on July 1.

READ | Vingegaard virtually assures back-to-back Tour de France triumphs

Pogacar constantly attacked in the rolling hills of the Basque Country.

But Vingegaard stunned the Slovenian in the Pyrenees to take a lead of just under a minute before his rival constantly clawed back seconds here and there in the vineyards of Bordeaux and Beaujolais and on the highlight July 14 ascent of the Puy de Dome.

The race was decided over a quartet of Alpine stages in week three, where Vingegaard looked stronger but bided his time until a sizzling time trial shattered his rival.

On the Queen stage climb to the chic Courchevel ski resort Pogacar snapped, as Vingegaard skipped away to take a lead of over seven minutes.

'It ain't over till it's over'

Vingegaard said he felt "euphoric" after surviving Saturday's penultimate stage to virtually clinch his second successive title.

After crossing the line high in the Vosges, Vingegaard now only needs to ride into Paris to pull on the yellow jersey beneath the Arc de Triomphe as winner of the world's greatest bike race again.

"It ain't over till it's over, so the feeling now is even more euphoric than when I took the big lead