Former fish market worker, 26 years old: Who is Jonas Vingegaard?

Vingegaard has won the Tour de France for the second time in a row, a year after he beat the two Tour champions Pogacar. Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma's teammates crossed the finish line together with applause and cheers. The Netherlands-based Jumbo-Visma team became the main actor of success with their excellent collective effort, in addition to their stage win with Vingegaard.

After a relentless struggle across the climbs and straights in the scorching heat, Vingegaard clinched his lead in Tuesday's individual time trial and the Alps, securing his victory.

Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen (born 10 December 1996) is a Danish professional cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma. He won the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Tour de France.

Pogacar, the champion of 2020 and 2021, came in second but won the best under-25 jersey for the third time. This is the first time the Slovenian cyclist has stood out for such a fragile performance against Vingegaard in this Tour.

The "Polka dot Mayo" awarded to the best climber of the Tour was won by Giulio Ciccone, the Italian uphill climber of the Lidl-Trek team.

In the team classification, the leadership was left by Jumbo-Visma by a wide margin.

AN AMATEUR FISHERMAN SHOWING THE WORLD'S BEST

Born on December 10, 1996, Jonas Vingegaard's sports career originally started with football. But the young Jonas was found too small for football. He met cycling when his father took him to watch the race on the day he passed through the cities of the Tour of Denmark. “He loved cycling from the very beginning,” his mother recalls. “Jonas wanted to go pro. He had a tough time at the beginning but had the determination to keep going.”

The time Vingegaard worked in the fish market is an interesting anecdote, especially glossed over by the media. Vingegaard stepped into cycling with successful results in the youth category. When he came to U23, he transferred to a continental team. At that time Jonas was also working part-time at a fish market. He woke up at 5 in the morning and worked in the market until 1 in the afternoon.

For Jonas, real life began with an afternoon cycling workout after a quick meal. Among his teammates, his nickname was "The Fisherman". “It taught him about real life and how to work to rise in life,” his family says of their son's old job.

It seems that Jonas Vingegaard has learned the necessary lessons.

WHERE WILL THE 2024 TOUR DE FRANCE START?

The 111th Tour de France to be held in 2024 is expected to start from Italy with the Grand Depart in Florence. To this end, the race organization aims to honor former champions Gino Bartali, Riccardo Nencini, Marco Pantani, Ottavio Bottecchia, and Fausto Coppi.

The Tour de France visited Italy several times, but the race had never started on Italian soil. Thanks to the estimated 10 million euros collected by the regions of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont, the 2024 Tour de France will host the start of stage 4 in Pinerolo, before heading to France via the Alps at the end of three stages, as well as starting from Italy.

Also, the 2024 Tour de France marks the end of a tradition. The race will end with a time trial in Nice instead of Paris in 2024. Paris, the capital of France, will host the 2024 Olympic Games, making it impossible for the traditional final stage of the Tour de France to be held on the Champs-Elysees. In addition, the 2024 Tour de France will start a week earlier than usual, from Saturday 29 June to Sunday 21 July.