Tour de France 2022 Review
Jonas Vingegaard beat close rival Tadej Pogacar to the yellow jersey in Paris after an enthralling three weeks of cycling across France.
General Classification (Yellow Jersey)
1. Jonas VINGEGAARD JUMBO-VISMA 79h 33’ 20”
2. Tadej POGACAR UAE TEAM EMIRATES +00h 02’ 43”
3. Geraint THOMAS INEOS GRENADIERS +00h 07’ 22”
Arguably the most competitive General Classification (GC) we have seen this decade even if the times tell a different story, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar lit up the race with their somewhat friendly rivalry. Tadej Pogacar was leading the overall GC well into the second week, but Vingegaard’s team, Jumbo-Visma devised a strong plan which led to them to take turns in attacking Pogacar on the Col du Granon. This led to the young Slovenian to crack and Vingegaard managed to build a 2m30sec lead in GC after stage 11.
Over the course of the final week and a half Pogacar attacked as much as he could, but Vingegaard stuck to that wheel all the way through showing some great defence. It was on the final mountain stage, however where we saw Pogacar cracked once again after some outstanding domestique work from Vingegaard’s teammates, Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert. The former two-time winner lost the wheel of the fying Dane on the later slopes of the Hautacam, which allowed Vingegaard to build another minute on Pogacar with only two fairly uneventful stages left.
Meanwhile, Welshman, Geraint Thomas was the best of the rest. The only rider who managed to hang onto the wheels of the two front runners, however still being distanced on a regular basis on the mountain stages. Thomas rode a solid race and will be proud of yet another podium finish in the Tour de France.
Points Competition (Green Jersey)
1. Wout VAN AERT JUMBO-VISMA 480 PTS
2. Jasper PHILIPSEN ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK 286 PTS
3. Tadej POGACAR UAE TEAM EMIRATES 250 PTS
What can you say about Wout van Aert, winning Time Trials, sprint stages, an exquisite domestique and managing to distance genuine GC contenders on mountain stages, is there anything this man can’t do? Van Aert was a regular in the breakaway and more often than not claimed maximum points at the Intermediate Sprints. Wrapping up the Green Jersey competition after Stage 17, he broke Peter Sagan’s former points record by hitting 480 points. On top of that Van Aert received the honour of being voted as the most combative rider across all 21 stages, which was almost never in doubt.
Jasper Philipsen came second and almost 200 points behind the mercurial Belgian. Philipsen claimed a famous victory at the final stage on the Champs-Elysees making it his second of the Tour. High hopes for this young Dane going into future races.
King of the Mountains (Polka-Dot Jersey)
1. Jonas VINGEGAARD JUMBO-VISMA 72 PTS
2. Simon GESCHKE COFIDIS 65 PTS
3. Giulio CICCONE TREK-SEGAFREDO 61 PTS
A very unfortunate ending for Simon Geschke in this competition, was frequently in the breakaway in the mountains and managed to build up a solid number of points going into the final mountain stage of the Tour. He just didn’t manage to score the points he needed and was overtaken by Vingegaard who claimed victory on the Hautacam which saw him move ahead of the German.
A late push from, Italian, Giulio Ciccone almost saw him win the jersey and he was close to it as well, before being caught by Vingegaard on the penultimate clime of stage 19. Overall, Vingegaard was the stronger climber, but based on how many Tour’s Geschke has been involved in and the amount of work he did at the front of each stage, there was a sorrowful feeling for him.
Young Rider Competition (White Jersey)
1. Tadej POGACAR UAE TEAM EMIRATES 79h 36’ 03’’
2. Tom PIDCOCK INEOS GRENADIERS +00h 58’ 32’’
3. Brandon MCNULTY UAE TEAM EMIRATES +01h 28’ 36’’
Naturally, Pogacar claimed this jersey with no real competition, as he was the one fighting for the Yellow Jersey, it was a consolation prize at the end of the day. However, he still looked proud to wear it on the podium in Paris.
Nearly, an hour behind, was Tom Pidcock, the Mountain Bike gold medallist from Tokyo. The young Brit was in the top ten of GC going into the final week but gradually fell away, either he was not as strong of climber as the rest or fatigue had started to kick in. Nonetheless he will reflect on this tour positively, after a convincing win on Alpe D’Huez, managing to ride away from strong climbers such as Chris Froome, Giulio Ciccone, Louis Meintjes and Neilson Powless.
Brandon McNulty was in a very respectable third in the White Jersey competition. The young American came to the tour as a domestique for team leader, Pogacar. His time was definitely helped by the fact he was leading his team leader up the mountains. Was not expected to be a strong mountain domestique but did a stellar job on Stage 18 after he rode strong riders such as Davide Gaudu, Romain Bardet and Nairo Quintana off their wheels and only cracked on the later slopes of Peyragudes.
Team Classification
1. INEOS GRENADIERS 239h 03’ 03’’
2. GROUPAMA-FDJ. +00h 37’ 33’’
3. JUMBO-VISMA. +00h 44’ 54’’
A strong collective team performance from Ineos Grenadiers who secured yet another Team Classification victory. All eight of their riders managed to endure the three weeks of cycling, with two of them finishing in the top ten of GC (Geraint Thomas & Adam Yates). Ineos may look back on this tour as a success, a stage win on Alpe D’Huez, a top three finish in GC and victory in the Team Classification.
37 minutes down on the Ineos Grenadiers was Groupama-FDJ. The local team would probably never have expected a top two finish in the Team Classification along with a top four finish in GC (Davide Gaudu). Alongside this they showed themselves frequently at the front in breakaways, with the likes of Thibaut Pinot. In addition, there needs to be an honourable mention for Valentin Madouas, who helped his team leader, Gaudu, to his fourth place by guiding him up the mountains when he was struggling.
The standout team in my eyes however were Jumbo-Visma. The Dutch team controlled the majority of stages. They devised an outstanding plan to attack Pogacar on stage 11, and with regards to their domestiques for Vingegaard, everyone knew what their role was on the day. They truly lit up the race this year.
