Jonas Vingegaard completes amazing journey from fish factory to Tour de France triumph

The Dane did exactly what he was expected to do in the penultimate stage, a 40.7-kilometre time trial from Lacapelle-Marival to Rocamadour. That is to say he competed fiercely, even when he didn’t need to. His lead was 3min 26sec on Pogacar, and eight minutes on third-placed Geraint Thomas, so he could have used his advantage to make sure he didn’t crash. That wouldn’t be Vingegaard.

You do your best, regardless. So, there he was motoring down a descent at 40mph, overshooting a tight left corner and almost crashing into a cliff face. That calmed a little but not much. Of the 139 riders still in the Tour, his time was second best, 19 seconds slower than his teammate Wout van Aert who is a specialist against the clock. Pogacar was third, Thomas fourth.

Leave aside Van Aert who wasn’t in the general classification (GC) and the story of the time trial was the same as the Tour itself. Vingegaard, Pogacar and Thomas. After another fine performance in the time-trial, Thomas considered the future. He will go for another year but nothing is definite. He was asked how Ineos Grenadiers can find a way to beat Vingegaard and Pogacar in the Tour de France.

“Next year might be my last year, so I don’t care. I will be watching on TV,” he said, slightly tongue-in-cheek. But it wasn’t a flippant observation. He described his two rivals in this Tour as “once-in-a-generation” riders, and then he spoke of Tom Pidcock’s potential and said that if he decides to commit to the Tour, the team will get behind him. Ineos need Pidcock to become a special Tour rider because nothing less will do against Vingegaard and Pogacar.

It would have been useful for Pidcock to have sat and listened as the two top riders in the Tour spoke after the time trial. Pogacar talked about the mistake of being too quick to get into a fight he couldn’t win on the Col du Granon stage. He then said that being the kind of person he is he will come back to the Tour next year, stronger and more determined. “I’m very competitive,” he said.

Vingegaard expects nothing less. “Tadej is very hungry, I know that. But I am also very hungry and I want more.” Over the past three years, these guys have raised the standard in the Tour. Is Pidcock intimidated by the challenge or inspired by it? For a young man so brilliant on his mountain bike and world class in cyclo-cross, the choice is not an easy one.

It is Vingegaard who has now inched the bar even higher and it not likely that success will lessen him. Consider where he has come from. Four years ago he was working at Chrisfish, an international fish export company in Hanstholm on Denmark’s northern coast. He was 21, slightly built, a keen bike rider who wasn’t sure he could ever make a living as a pro.

Back then he was shy, kept himself to himself, and even though he had a contract with the small Danish team ColoQuick, his parents Claus and Karina believed he needed a real job. At first he gutted the fish and packed it into ice, then he graduated to the auction room, tracking those who bought to make sure they paid. He got to work at 5am, left at midday to train in the afternoon and earned €19 per hour.

While on a training week with ColoQuick in Spain, he posted the time he’d recorded on the Coll de Rates on the Costa Blanca. Though the climb is not difficult, Vingegaard’s time was still spectacular.

Team Jumbo-Visma’s director sportif Merjin Zeeman got in touch and soon Vingegaard was signed. “There was no other team who wanted to offer him a contract, there was not even interest, so I think we did a very good job recruiting him,” Zeeman said.

“He said it was the best day of his life when he turned pro. I said for us it was also not the worst choice we could make. He was really down to earth, motivated and always a good guy to work with, very open to the coaches. He listens very well and he learns very well.”

Zeeman liked that Vingegaard was still working at the fish factory, believing that he would appreciate the opportunities that would come from riding in a talented and well organised team. Vingegaard has made his way quickly but carefully. Thrown into the general classification (GC) in last year’s Tour after teammate Primoz Roglic crashed out, he seized the moment, riding outstandingly to finish second to Pogacar.

This time he had to be respectful to Roglic, the team’s joint leader at the beginning of the Tour, and he played that part diplomatically. When Roglic lost time on the fifth stage, the way was clear for Vingegaard to take on Pogacar. It was the beginning of the best mano-a-mano in the Tour since Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon in 1989.

After each stage, all he wanted to do was call his wife Trine Marie Hansen and their daughter Frida back in Denmark. Warming down on the rollers, he would speak to the two that he continually called “my girls”. Asked about the kind of guy he is off the bike, he said, “I’m just a family man.”

He is also a throwback, to a time when men abandoned ordinary lives in the hope of doing something extraordinary at the Tour de France. Mostly they just suffered. Over the years the sport has changed, become much more professional and the young riders come from academy teams, under-23 squads, feeder teams. From a young age they are geared for the big league.

And then there’s a young guy, in his early 20s, filleting fish in a factory in Jutland. Someone finds him and three years later he wins the Tour de France. After he got to the finish line in Rocamadour at the end of his time-trial there was Trine Marie and Frida waiting. He fell into their arms, Trine Marie cried and for once in the Tour, Jonas didn’t have to make his post-race phone call.

Stage 20 results

1, W van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 47min 59sec

2, J Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +19sec

3, T Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +27sec

4, G Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +32sec

5, F Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +42sec

6, B Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) +1min 22sec

7, M Cattaneo (Quick-Step Alpha V) +1min 25sec

8, F Wright (Bahrain Victorious) +1min 32sec

9, M Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 37sec

10 J Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious) +1min 48sec

Yellow jersey

1, Vingegaard 76hr 33min 57sec

2, Pogacar +3min 34sec

3 Thomas +8min 13sec

4, D Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +13min 56sec

5, A Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +16min 37sec

6, N Quintana (Team Arkea-Samsic) +17min 24sec

7, R Bardet (Team DSM) +19min 2sec

8, L Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty) +19min 12sec

9, A Lutsenko (Astana) +23min 47sec

10, A Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +25min 43sec

Green jersey

1, Van Aert 480

2, Pogacar 250

3, J Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceninck) 236

4, C Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) 171

5, M Pedersenx (Trek-Segafredo) 158

Polka dot jersey

1, Vingegaard 72

2, S Geschke (Cofidis) 64

3, G Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) 61

4, Pogacar 61

5, Van Aert 59

White jersey

1, Pogacar 76hr 37min 31sec

2, T Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) +57min 34sec

3, B McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +1hr 27min 43sec

4, M Jorgenson (Movistar Team) +1hr 31min 14sec

5, A Leknessund (Team DSM) +1hr 54min 48sec

– The Times