Nobody has ever won the Tour de France, the world’s biggest bike race, by accident. Run over 21 stages, through windy flatlands, over rough cobbles and lung-busting mountains, by the time the race reaches its crescendo in Paris the rider in possession of the yellow jersey is always a deserving winner.
The victor of the 2022 race, Denmark and Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard, was no exception. Though hailing from one of the flattest countries on the planet (170m, at its most lofty), he emerged as the finest climber in the race, and part of one of the more formidable teams in the race’s long history, whose battering ram-strength – spearheaded by the remarkable Wout van Aert – played no small part in the fastest Tour ever.
It was also no accident that the crowd that turned out in Copenhagen for his triumphant homecoming was of a size more often seen in coronations and royal weddings. This is a nation that celebrates the bike in all its forms, from its outsized
