Daredevil descending and THAT handshake – 13 best moments of Tour de France 2022

A wonderful edition of the Tour de France came to a close as the sun set over Paris on Sunday with Jumbo-Visma riders crossing the line together to celebrate Jonas Vingegaard’s overall win and Wout van Aert's green jersey, and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) storming the final sprint by a number of bike lengths. It’s a nigh-on impossible task narrowing down so much drama from over three weeks of high-octane, and at times highly emotional racing, into a baker's dozen of discrete moments but here goes nothing.

Here are your best moments in chronological order... Ad/> Fabio Jakobsen’s maiden Tour stage win Tour de FranceThe 10 best riders of the Tour, Vingegaard misses out on top spot — Blazin’ SaddlesAN HOUR AGO The Dutch sprinter’s long road to recovery after his horrific crash in 2020 was completed with his victory in the opening road stage to Nyborg, which ended any lingering controversy over Mark Cavendish’s omission from Quick-Step’s Tour squad and reminded us what a huge talent Fabio Jakobsen is.

By a nice sense of symmetry, Jakobsen’s compatriot Dylan Groenewegen won a day later to draw a line under the sorry Tour de Pologne episode which hit both riders in different ways. Magnus Cort celebrating polka dots like a stage win While far bigger things were in store for the Dane, the way in which Magnus Cort rose to the challenge and celebrated taking the KOM points over each of the climbs in his native Denmark couldn’t fail but bring a smile to the faces of even those B&B Hotel riders he rode out of contention in Stage 2.