Compared to Germany, Denmark has the much more violent doping scandals. It wasn’t just Riis. There was also Michael Rasmussen. Who – it was also in 2007 – was taken out of the race as the overall leader of the tour because he had given false information about his whereabouts during the preparation. And yet the Danes remained true to cycling. A journalist from the newspaper “Jyllands Posten” from Vingegaard’s homeland says that you always watched the tour in Denmark in the summer. That’s just tradition. In addition, there is very good association and youth work, many races, good scouting.
Other way than Pogacar
And so a small country like Denmark always produces great talent like Vingegaard. The lightweight from Jutland doesn’t have the premium gene pool of his great adversary Tadej Pogacar. “If you look closely, he took the long way,” said Ralph Denk, boss of the German team Bora-hansgrohe.
Slovenian Pogacar won his first tour at the age of 21. At the same age, Vingegaard was still standing in a fish factory on the west coast in the morning and only got on his bike in the afternoon. Pogacar (23) was already ahead of everyone in the junior races, while Vingegaard was cycling under the radar. It wasn’t until Jumbo-Visma was made aware of him by Vingegaard’s Danish amateur team in 2018 and given access to his training data that his career really took off.
At the beginning of the tour, Vingegaard acted as a double leader with Primoz Roglic, but the Slovenian fell on the fifth stage and slipped into the role of helper. Vingegaard rose to the lead and checkmated Pogacar with two big attacks. First he rode the yellow jersey at the Col du Granon in the Alps, then he secured his triumph at Hautacam in the Pyrenees. The latter is an astonishing parallel to Riis, who also eliminated any remaining doubts in the ski resort when he triumphed in 1996.
For Vingegaard there will be a reception on Copenhagen’s City Hall Square on Wednesday – as there was for Riis. “I’m really looking forward to the week. It will certainly be very stressful, but also very exciting,” said Vingegaard. It’s up to him to give credence to his words about doping in the years to come. He will always be asked about the clean tour winner.