Thrilling duel and big gesture: Vingegaard before the tour triumph

Until then, the 18th stage provided above all a great spectacle. Pogacar, who ended up second-placed, constantly attacked the yellow jersey on the penultimate climb before the big drama broke out on the breakneck descent from the Col de Spandelles.

First Vingegaard (25) avoided a fall with a skilful maneuver, then his rival from Slovenia fell in a curve. But Vingegaard showed true greatness and waited for Pogacar. Shortly thereafter, the 23-year-old was back on the rear wheel with tattered cycling shorts and a grazed leg. Both shook hands. Memories of the duels between Jan Ullrich and Lance Armstrong were awakened.

“He paid taxes and got into the gravel. Of course I waited,” said Vingegaard about the key scene.

Geschke (36) was already far behind at that time. For the native Berliner, the dream of the first German mountain king in Paris was shattered. After nine days, the man with the full beard had to give up his red dotted dress on the last Pyrenean stage.

Instead, Vingegaard grabbed the mountain jersey almost in passing during his demonstration of power on the super-difficult 18th stage with more than 4000 meters of altitude difference. After the Dane had parried all of his rival Pogacar’s attacks, he knocked him out with his attack 4.4 kilometers from the finish. In 1996, Riis had eliminated the last doubts about the Tour triumph in Hautacam – albeit with illegal means, as he later admitted.

Vingegaard ended up 64 seconds ahead, putting him 3:26 ahead of Pogacar in the overall standings. That should be enough to make the second Danish tour victory on Sunday in Paris perfect. Because all-rounder Pogacar should hardly be able to make up for this gap in the individual time trial on Saturday. The man in yellow doesn’t want to know about the overall victory yet: “If I survive the next two days, we can talk.” In addition, Vingegaard is also uncatchable in the mountains classification with 72 points in front of Geschke (64).

For Geschke, hopes of another coup in a mountain jersey were already dashed at the Col d’Aubisque. First the 36-year-old missed the breakaway group shortly after the start in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, then his race to catch up was unsuccessful before he finally let it be completely torn off with his tongue out Geschke was at the end of his tether after keenly scoring points almost every day. He reached the finish a good 34 minutes down. “It’s a real shame. The mountain jersey is for the best climber, he’s wearing it now,” said Geschke, who, as deputy for Vingegaard and second-placed in the classification, is still allowed to wear the jersey.

For the first time in 26 years, the tour will be dominated by Danish Dynamite. Appropriately enough, the Grand Depart already took place in Copenhagen, after which Vingegaard, Mads Pedersen and Magnus Cort Nielsen collected a total of four stage wins. For comparison: hosts France weren’t allowed to celebrate yet.