Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard greeted by tens of thousands of fans in Denmark

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Copenhagen to welcome back Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard.

The Jumbo-Visma rider came out on top in a thrilling battle for the title with two-time winner Tadej Pogacar and became the first Dane to win the Tour de France since Bjarne Riis in 1996.

Vingegaard's win will rank highly in the list of Denmark's best sporting moments, alongside the shock victory at football's Euro 1992.

In red and white livery, two Danish Air Force fighter jets escorted Vingegaard's private plane on its journey to Copenhagen.

“I'm almost completely speechless. I don't know what to say,” Vingegaard said, before stepping on to a balcony where he was greeted by a throng of flag-waving Danes on Copenhagen's town hall square.

“It's fantastic and mega moving … It still hasn't sunk in that I won the Tour de France. It's something I couldn't have imagined. It's unbelievable.”

Vingegaard thanked his first bicycle club Thy Cykle Ring, and sent his gratitude to volunteers in cycling sport clubs across the country, without whom he said he wouldn't have won the Tour de France.

His home town of Glyngore in northern Denmark will host Vingegaard for further celebrations on Thursday.