Jonas Vingegaard wins Tour de France for second year in row with Tadej Pogacar second

Jonas Vingegaard has won the Tour de France for a second year in row after as the race reached its usual conclusion on the streets of Paris.

The Danish rider crossed the finish line after the 21-day race seven minutes and 29 seconds ahead of UAE Team Emirates Tadej Pogacar, the champion in 2020 and 2021. Pogacar's teammate Adam Yates of Britain finished third.

Vingegaard's winning margin was the largest since 2014 when Italian Vincenzo Nibali took the fabled champion's yellow jersey by 7 min 39 sec.

The final stage saw a surprise winner in Jordi Meeus of the Bora team, with Jasper Philipsen denied a fifth stage win on this Tour right at the line in a photo finish.

It had been a three-week slog over 3,405 kilometres with eight mountain stages across five mountain ranges. Vingegaard seized control of the race over two stages in the Alps.

Little had separated the two rivals until Vingegaard finished a time-trial one minute, 38 seconds ahead of Pogacar on Tuesday, then followed up the next day by finishing the toughest mountain stage of the race almost six minutes ahead of his exhausted rival.