By Johannes Birkebaek
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Double Tour de France-winner Jonas Vingegaard returned to Copenhagen on Wednesday to be greeted by thousands of jubilant Danes waiting in the streets to celebrate his second successive triumph in the sport’s premier race.
The soft-spoken champion will appear on the balcony of City Hall to celebrate his triumph with his compatriots.
Mikkel Feldtmann Hansen, 24, has taken the day off from his job as a sergeant in the Danish Royal Guard to come and greet the Danish Tour de France riders.
“It’s such an accomplishment to win the Tour de France and it’s rare to see Danish sports achieve these big wins and get to be cheered on by their nation,” he told Reuters.
Hansen, who has done a lot of cycling himself, has been on the junior-class national team with some of the Danish riders from the Tour.
“It’s personal for me because I know some of the guys up there so it’s just class, top class,” he said.
Vingegaard, 26, is the first Dane to become a two-time winner of the Tour de France after last year joining 1996 champion Bjarne Riis as the only other Danish champion.
He moved into the yellow jersey after the sixth stage of this year’s race and was then involved in a classic and hugely compelling mountain battle with Slovenian double Tour-winner Tadej Pogacar.
Vingegaard, however, stamped his authority on the race when he hammered Pogacar by a crushing one minute and 38 seconds on the 16th stage, an individual time trial, to effectively seal the deal.
Vingegaard himself said after the race that it might have been his best day on a bike ever and the Danish fans agree.
“How did he control his brain like that? It was amazing, just amazing,” said Mina Kastbjerg, 56.
Dressed in yellow, Kastbjerg has been waiting for over three hours to celebrate Vingegaard’s success.
“We have to show that we celebrate and admire what he has done,” she said.
Vingegaard and his family were flown to Denmark on Wednesday following celebrations in the Netherlands, home to his team Jumbo-Visma.
His home town of Glyngore located in northern Denmark will host Vingegaard for further celebrations on Thursday.
(Reporting by Johannes Birkebaek, editing by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Toby Davis)
