MADRID, 27 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Last Sunday the Tour de France concluded, an edition that crowned the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) ahead of the winner of 2020 and 2021, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE). But apart from these two protagonists, who fought a great duel for the yellow jersey, the race left others that we review.
1. Wout van Aert. He didn’t win, he didn’t even finish in the ‘Top 20’ overall, but the Belgian Jumbo-Visma rider garnered almost more praise than Vigegaard himself. He won three stages, more than anyone else, donned the green jersey, wore yellow for four days, helped his leader in all terrains and was always the protagonist whatever the terrain.
2. Tom Pidcock. The British cyclist was another of the protagonists of the Tour. Olympic gold in Tokyo in mountain biking and world gold this year in the Cyclocross World Championship, he was the youngest winner of a stage (22 years old) and he also did it in an incomparable setting like Alpe d’Huez.
3.Simon Clarke. On the opposite side is that of the Australian cyclist from Israel-Premier Tech, who was the oldest, at 36 years old, to win a stage in the ‘Grande Boucle’, the first of his record.
4. Belgium. Belgian cycling played a prominent role in this edition of the ‘Grande Boucle’ and was the one that won the most stages, a total of six, thanks to the aforementioned Wout van Aert (3), Jasper Philipsen (2) and Yves Lampaert. Denmark won four thanks to Jonas Vigegaard (2), Mads Pedersen and Magnus Court.
5. Spain. Spanish cycling, on the other hand, left the French round empty for the fourth consecutive edition. His last win was in 2018 through Omar Fraile. In general, the best was the veteran Luis León Sánchez (Astana), fourteenth after more than 49 minutes.
6. INEOS-Grenadiers. Despite the sensation of dominance given by the powerful Jumbo-Visma, which added six wins, the British team was the best overall of the 22 participants. Geraint Thomas completed the podium on the Champs-Élysées and two other riders cracked the top 20: Adam Yates, 10th, and Tom Pidcock, 17th.
7. Ten teams added a victory. Jumbo-Visma, UAE, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Israel-Premier Team, AG2R, INEOS-Grenadiers, BikeExchange-Jayco, Trek-Segafredo and EF Education-EasyPost gave cheers to their respective sponsors.
8. Pogacar and Van Aert. The Slovenian cyclist, who won two days, and the Belgian were the only ones to repeat stage victory compared to the 2021 Tour de France edition.
9. Youth continues to rule. In the past it was said that the Tour de France had to be won with greater maturity. In fact, Miguel Indurain did it for the first time at the age of 27 in 1992. However, since Geraint Thomas won it in 2018 at the age of 32, it has been the preserve of the ’20-somethings’ thanks to Egan Bernal, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard , the ‘oldest’ of this trio to achieve it with 25.
10. Coronavirus. The virus has been the sad protagonist of this 2022 edition of the Tour, which makes it clear that we must remain vigilant. About twenty cases caused abandonment, including those of Enric Mas, Guillaume Martin or Chris Froome.