Jonas Vingegaard: who is Tour de France 2022 winner, who is his wife and where did Geraint Thomas finish?

The Tour de France reached a dramatic conclusion in the French capital on Sunday 24 July 2022, with Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard snatching victory.

In a Tour filled with fury, passion and protests, the Slovenian 2021 Champion Tadej Pogacar remained in contention for a second victory but couldn’t quite clip the seemingly infallible Jumbo-Visma team’s star rider.

Britain’s Geraint Thomas came in third to secure his third finish in four years. Fellow British cyclist Jasper Philipsen sprinted to his second stage win as he took victory in Paris meanwhile Vingegaard and his teammates fanned out across the French cobbles, joining arms as they celebrated success together.

The Jumbo-Visma team have enjoyed six stage wins, the yellow and green jerseys as well as impressive climbing speeds and a collective domination in the competition.

When asked in the press conference whether such performances could be trusted, the 2022 Champion replied: “we are totally clean, everyone on of us.

“I can say that to every one of you. No one of us is taking anything illegal. I think why we’re so good is the preparation that we do. The team is the best within this. That’s why you have to trust.”

So who is the Dane who stormed to victory in the Tour de France?

Who is Jonas Vingegaard?

Vingegaard was born in Hillerslev, Denmark in 1996 and joined the Danish continental team, Coloquick, in May 2016.

At just 19 years old, he finished second in the UCI 2.1 level race Tour of China I.

Since 2019, Vingegaard has been part of the Jumbo-Visma team and in his first year with the Dutch based team, he won the UCI WorldTour win in stage 6 of the Tour de Pologne before completing the 2020 Vuelta a Espana as a domestique for the eventual race winner, Primoz Roglic.

During the 2021 season Vingegaard won stage 5 of the UAE Tour before winning Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.

He entered his first Tour de France in 2021, heading in as a domestique for the overall favourite Primoz Roglic but after Roglic suffered a number of falls, he withdrew after eight stages leaving the Dane as Team Jumbo-Vismas only general classification contender.

With two second place finishes, and finishing third on both of the time trials, he came in second place overall, becoming the second Danish rider to achieve a podium finish in the Tour de France, and the first since 1996.

Vingegaard married Trine Marie Hansen in 2019 and welcomed a their daughter, Frida in September 2020.

Jonas Vingegaard in 2022

Vingegaard’s first major result of 2022 came in the Tirreno-Adriatico where he came in second. He soon followed that up with a sixth place finish at the 2022 Tour of the Basque County.

The Dane then finished second at the 2022 Criterium du Dauphine before starting his Tour de France journey.

The key moment of Vingegaard’s tournament came in the 11th stage at the Cold du Granon where his main rival Tadej Pogacar misjudged his tactics and found himself unable to respond to the 25-year-old’s acceleration. From here Vingegaard was in complete control and was able to win despite suffering the loss of key helpers George Bennett and Rafal Majka, and took possession of the famous Maillot Jaune

Where did Geraint Thomas finish?

The Welsh cyclist Geraint Thomas put in what some have considered to be the finest performance of his career and finished third.

He was never a contender for winning the Tour but was still able to achieve a third place finish. When asked by the press if it would be his last Tour de France, the Welshman said: “I don’t know, I’ve got a contract to the end of next year. I might stop, I might do one more. I’m still enjoying the racing, I’m still enjoying this race, the biggest race in the world. Never say never. We’ll see.”