Tour de France 2022 : Stage 20 – Wout won, Jonas seals yellow as flying, crying Jumbo takes 1-2

All the emotions exploded at the finish line of today’s 20th stage of the Tour de France. Jumbo Visma’s Wout van Aert took the stage win, while teammate Jonas Vingegaard came home in second place, cementing his overall win.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE), Geraint Thomas and Filippo Ganna (INEOS) rounded out the top 5 on the stage.

On the GC, Aleksandr Vlasov of Bora moved into the top 5 and Romain Bardet (DSM) jumped up to 7th. Louis Meintjes (Wanty) took a drop to 8th.

How it went down

Filippo Ganna set the early reference time and consigned himself to a long afternoon in the hot seat. Tour Pippo has been much quieter than the Giro Pippo we’ve been used to seeing. Was today going to be his day to shine in France?

It looked like a possibility. Other TT specialists tried and failed to get close to his Italian Thighness.

EF’s Stefan Bissenger has a mechanical problem…

… and a headwear problem

And others, including Stefan Kung (FDJ) and Bauke Mollema (Trek) – who has realised in the past year that he could actually time trial! – could not beat Pippo’s time.

WOUTSTANDING

What is there to say about Wout van Aert that hasn’t been said? The Belgian has been a blur of energy for the past three weeks. Solo wins? Not a problem. Breakaways? Yeah, why not? Hauling back that whippersnapper Pogacar? Let’s do it.

Today was a day for his time trial skills to reign supreme. Van Aert’s smooth application of power was on display around a beautifully scenic course. Having spent much of the last week ripping it up around the Pyrenees, Wout could be excused for lacking a little speed, or even wanting to take it easy so that he had something left in the tank for Paris. Taking it easy, however, is not The Way of the Wout™.

The very definition of “leaving it all on the road”, you could see he had noting left to give as he swayed through the closing hundred metres. The green skin suit and its seemingly permanent inhabitant crossed the line 42 seconds faster than Pippo. Wout easily topped Ganna.

The Jumbo rider had some nervous moments in the hot seat as it looked like the top GC guys, Thomas (yes really), Pogacar and Vingegaard might dethrone him. One-by-one, they found Wout’s time out of their reach, meaning Wout van Aert took his third stage of this Tour.

Because he hasn’t achieved enough this July, Wout was given the super-aggressive-attickity-combativity-fight-fight-fight-boom award too.

You want some feels?

Remember two years ago? The look on the faces of the Jumbo guys as Pogacar took the yellow jersey from Primoz Roglic on the stage 20 time trial?

What a difference two years makes, with Wout coming onto the course to congratulate Jonas.

50 metres further down the road, Jonas meets his biggest fans.

Wout lets his win sink in

Today, Jumbo put on a show on the road and after the line. We could see their unity, how close they are and how much this race means to them. What I really like is how they carry themselves to a man. There’s a confidence, but there’s no arrogance. They displayed tremendous sporting ability and also sportsmanship. There’s no nasty side to this Jumbo team, if they’ve turned the screw on their competitors it’s because they can, not because they want to make others suffer.

Stragglers

I like Geraint’s sense of humour these days

Ooh, la la les polkas

It wouldn’t be the 2022 Tour de France if it didn’t give us the odd heart-stopping moment

Movistar haven’t had nearly enough attention this Tour. Especially now they’ve cleaned up their act

The last word

When cartoons and bike racing collide.

Results

Stage 20 results

1 Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 00:47:59

2 Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +19s

3 Tadej Pogacar (UAE) +27s

4 Geraint Thomas (INEOS) +32s

5 Fillipo Ganna (INEOS) +42s

GC Top 10

1 Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 75:35:49

2 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +3:34

3 Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +8:12

4 David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +13:56

5 Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) +16:37

6 Nairo Quintana (Team Arkea-Samsic) +17:24

7 Romain Bardet (Team DSM) +19:02

8 Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) +19:12

9 Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +23:47

10 Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +25:43

All the jerseys

Leader’s jersey : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)

Points jersey : Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)

King of the Mountains jersey : Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)

Young Rider Jersey : Tadej Pogacar (UAE)

Team competition : INEOS Grenadiers

For the full stage review, go to cyclingnews

Go here for the official Tour de France website

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