The 2022 Tour de France was very intense. After 3,328 kilometers covered, the peloton crossed the finish line of the Grande Boucle on the Champs-Élysées, last Sunday. The riders tried to stand out from a very competitive bunch. It is time to review this 109th edition of the race.

The 2022 Tour de France has again broken records. In addition to the large audiences, the riders put on a spectacular show. Here is the information to keep in mind:

Record speed! — 42.114 km/h average speed: the 2022 Tour de France is the fastest in history. The breakaways rarely saw the end of the course, caught up by the peloton. Even on the longest stage of this Grande Boucle between Binche-Longwy (219 km), the winner Tadej Pogacar didn’t control his effort, pedaling at 49.4 km/h on average.

Yellow Jersey for Jonas Vingegaard — Jonas Vingegaard had the profile of a solid underdog. The Jumbo-Visma rider showed his muscles in the ascent of the Col du Granon. Well helped by his team, Vingegaard triumphed with panache. At 25, the Dane puts his name on the list of winners of the biggest race in the world.

Final ranking:
🥇 Jonas Vingegaard (DAN/Jumbo) 79h33'20
🥈 Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAE) : +2'43
🥉 Geraint Thomas (GB/INE) : +7'22

Polka Dot Jersey for Jonas Vingegaard, again — If the German Simon Gescke wore the polka dot jersey for nine stages, the Cofidis rider logically lost at the end of the Tour against Jonas Vingegaard, author of a last very strong performance on the slopes of Hautacam.

Final ranking:
🥇 Jonas Vingegaard (DAN/Jumbo): 72 points
🥈 Simon Geschke (ALL/COF): 65 points
🥉 Giulio Ciccone (ITA/TRE): 61 points

Green Jersey for Wout Van Aert — After a seven-year term under Peter Sagan, Wout van Aert made the green jersey his main objective. A mission accomplished.

Final ranking:
🥇 Wout van Aert (BEL/JUM): 480 points
🥈 Jasper Philipsen (BEL/ALP): 286 points
🥉 Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAE): 250 points

Super combative for Wout Van Aert, again — The super combative of the 109th Tour de France was never really a mystery since Wout van Aert was elected unanimously by the jury, including popular jurors through social networks.

White Jersey for Tadej Pogacar — Youth is in the spotlight with Pogacar who won the White Jersey for the third consecutive year. The rider will be eligible in 2023 for the best young rider classification.

Final ranking:
🥇 Tadej Pogacar (SLO/UAE) 79h36'03
🥈 Thomas Pidcock (GB/INE) : +58'32
🥉 Brandon McNulty (EU/UAE) : +1h28'36

Team classification for the INEOS Grenadiers — Former favorites for the Yellow Jersey, the team led a youngster (Tom Pidcock) to a stage victory and an aging Geraint Thomas to the final podium. It also dominated from the 5th stage the team classification which allows riders to wear yellow helmets and yellow race numbers.

Final ranking:
🥇 INEOS Grenadiers
🥈 Groupama-FDJ
🥉 Jumbo-Visma

What else? — Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) had not won at least one stage on the same Tour de France since the 1966 edition. Here again are these traditionally successful nations on the Tour de France at a very high level of success in terms of stage wins: 9 out of 21!

Vingegaard, Van Aert and Jumbo-Visma's desire to win

The victory of the Dane Jonas Vingegaard is accompanied by the strong domination of his Jumbo-Visma team, well ahead in the table of stage victories: six. Unheard of for the past ten years with Team Sky of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish.

Jonas Vingegaard, the Yellow Jersey — On the podium of the 2022 Tour de France, there was an air of déjà vu. Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, who had fought over the yellow jersey in 2021, again climbed on the first two steps of the podium, but reversed their position. Tadej Pogacar gave way to the Dane despite multiple attacks to regain the yellow jersey, lost at the Col du Granon.

The Slovenian lost his third Tour at the Granon and his successor, Jonas Vingegaard, also made a point of raising one arm wearing the precious tunic. It happened in the Pyrenees, in Hautacam. Symbolically, the Danish winner wins the Tour de France starting in Denmark. Until then, the only winner of a Tour de France that started in his own country was the Spanish Miguel Indurain in 1992.

Highlight: The 11th stage of the 2022 Tour de France is the fateful turning point for Vingegaard. By arriving first at the finish at the top of the Col du Granon (Hautes-Alpes), he placed his rival Pogacar in poor conditions. Yellow jersey but lonely, Tadej Pogacar was exhausted following the repeated assaults of the Jumbo and faced an aerial Jonas Vingegaard on the last climb.

Wout Van Aert, the Green Jersey — A perfect teammate, the Belgian was involved in two fights: that of the Green Jersey for himself and that of the Yellow Jersey for his teammate Vingegaard. His strategy? Double use of intermediate sprints, both to increase his personal points account and to exhaust Jumbo-Visma's opponents in the general classification. A few hills helped him when he did not win the 4 bunch sprints. Van Aert broke Sagan's record, which had scored 477 points with the current scale. But he was content with 480, giving up aiming for 500 points, which would have been possible on the Champs-Élysées.
Highlight: He wore the green jersey, for the first time in his career while Yves Lampaert was wearing the Yellow Jersey and then as part of his leadership without giving it up until Paris. Behind him, Jasper Philipsen, also Belgian, the only sprinter to have won two stages in this Tour had to settle for 286 points, what a gap!

Jumbo Visma Team — For the first time in its history, the Jumba-Visma brought the yellow jersey back to Paris. Sometimes criticized for its strategy and a certain arrogance, Jonas Vingegaard's team achieved their collective masterpiece during the 11th stage arriving at the top of the Col du Granon. A very positive record with six stage victories. The Dutch team at the top: the yellow jersey and the polka dot jersey for Vingegaard, but also the green jersey and the super combative prize for the Belgian Wout van Aert. A show of strength!

The loser: Pogacar's first failure

Tadej Pogacar has tried everything – Winner of the Tour in 2020 and 2021, he could not make it a hat trick in Paris. But the Slovenian fell arms in hand. “There couldn't be a better way to lose the Tour de France. I will finish the Tour without regrets”, he admitted at the end of the last mountain day.

The UAE formation prodigy attacked relentlessly in an attempt to salvage time from Vingegaard. In his defense, he composed with a team hit by bad luck, after the successive abandons of Vegard Stake Laengen and George Bennett, positive for Covid-19, Marc Soler (sick) and Rafal Majka (injured).

“Pogi” is therefore no longer invincible. His last “defeat” in a stage race dates back to the Tour of the Basque Country in April 2021 (3rd). A very relative failure, with three stage victories and the white jersey of the best young rider. Full of passion, he assures that he will be there: “I will come back hungry”, he promised.

An ok result for the French riders

Christophe Laporte, to save the day — On the morning of the 19th stage, the disaster was looming for French cycling. However, Christophe Laporte came out of the peloton to take the lead in Cahors. With Julian Alaphilippe absent and without a sprinter, ambitions had necessarily been lowered.

David Gaudu and Romain Bardet, top 10 — Two French riders finished in the top 10 of the general classification of this 2022 Tour de France: 4th place for David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ (the best result since Romain Bardet's 3rd place in 2017 ), and a 7th place for the same Romain Bardet of Team DSM.
However, the two riders are a long way from Jonas Vingegaard's yellow jersey. The Breton David Gaudu is at 13min39s, and the Auvergnat Romain Bardet is at 18min11s. Placed in the final ranking yes, but not yet quite ready to succeed Bernard Hinault on the Champs-Elysées.

2023: See you on the 110th edition of the Tour de France

Jonas Vingegaard won the yellow jersey ahead of the double defending champion, Tadej Pogacar. The two men were simply in a different league than everyone else. Wout van Aert, winner of three stages, was also overpowered. It is therefore a faultless record for Jumbo Visma. The French waited for the nineteenth act to raise their arms, but can be satisfied with placing two riders in the top 10 of the general classification. After three exceptional weeks, the appointment is taken for the Tour de France 2023!