Jonas Vingegaard couldn’t get out of the grin. In his red jersey, the Danish bike star entered the podium after his triumph at Vuelta, then he stretched his trophy.
But this award ceremony was far from his dream presentation-because the actual was unusual, after the dropout of the 80th Tour of Spain triggered by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
So Vingegaard (Visma Lease A Bike) and Co. had to improvise. In the parking lot in front of the teamhotel, the drivers built a podium late Sunday evening with cool boxes, behind them they sponsored a sponsor wall, as could be seen on pictures of the Danish television station TV2. Joao Almeida (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) completed the podium. Mads Pedersen (green jersey), Jay Vine (mountain jersey) and Matthew Riccitello (white jersey) from the Israel Prime Minister Tech team were also honored. The Rocky classic Eye of the Tiger from Survivor sounded from a music box.
“I am very proud of this overall victory, my first Vuelta and the third Grand Tour of my career,” said Vingegaard, who won the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023: “It was three hard weeks. In the first week I felt very strong and was able to win twice. After that I had a more difficult phase, but luckily I came back last weekend.”