Jonas Vingegaard wins second Tour de France title as Jordi Meeus denies Jasper Philipsen in Champs-E´lysées photo finish
Cycling
Jonas Vingegaard has won his second straight Maillot Jaune. The Dane's Tour de France victory is now wholly official after the traditionally ceremonial stage 21 in Paris as Jordi Meeus took the sprint win on the Champs-E´lysées.
The Tour de France comes to a close in Paris. After three weeks of an amazing race, it comes to an end on stage 21 where the riders reach the famed cobbles of the Champs-E´lysées for one last bunch sprint.
After all the traditional theatre of the processional ride to Paris, the stress levels began to rise and things began to get more exciting as the riders made their way into the City of Light for the first time.
As they passed the finish line for the first time, riders immediately tried to attack off the front, despite the fact these moves never seem to work on the the final stage of the Tour de France.
Even Tadej Pogacar himself made an attack of the front, similar to what he did twelve months ago. Even on this stage he couldn't rid himself of Jumbo-Visma as Nathan van Hooydonck was straight onto his wheel.
At the end of the first lap, the leading pair had a gap of 12 seconds despite the face van Hooydonck was for some reason, not rolling through with Pogacar.
The lead group then swelled in numbers to ten as Michał Kwiatkowski, Alberto Bettiol, Nils Politt, Mattias Skjelmose, Alex Edmondson, Fred Wright, Yves Lampaert and Harold Tejada jumped across.
Sadly for them, they couldn't hold off the peloton for long. Immediately following their catch though another counter-attack of three riders rode ahead. Simon Clarke, Nelson Oliveira and Frederik Frison.
Not since 2005 have the sprinters been denied on the Champs-Elysees but as the leading trio maintained a 20-second lead with 20km to go, it couldn't be ruled out.
Just as the riders reached 10km to go though, the peloton was within touching distance and soon after the catch was complete.
A few more riders launched flyers, including of course, Victor Campenaerts, as the sprint teams struggled to keep control of the peloton.
Nevertheless, as they rounded the Arc de Triumphe for the final time, the sprint remained the most likely outcome.
With 3km to go the pace was incredibly high. As they emerged from the tunnel, it was still all to be fought for at the front.
Heading through 1km to go, Tadej Pogacar once again was on the front of the peloton. Mathieu van der Poel then came to the fore leading out Jasper Philipsen.
In an incredible finale, four riders crossed the line side by side. The photo finish showed that it was Jordi Meeus by the barest of margins ahead of Philipsen.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- If you go watch some races from last season other riders that have never caught Jonas...are now catching him. Some are just riding away from him and he can't hold the wheelmd197514-11-2026
- He just doesn't have the desire anymore. I read an article earlier today that said he almost retired last year. His reasoning was he is away from home to much. Visma was able to keep him riding by allowing him to skip certain camps. So, while currently Visma is doing altitude work...Jonas is at home. Which means 2 things. 1- He maybe fresher than other riders. But, not the condition. 2-Is a somewhat slap in the face to others on the team that are supposed to help him win. Yet feel like he hasn't done what they have so perhaps they don't provide as good of protection or they ride more for theme (which the team may not notice).md197514-11-2026
- Roglic could not have won anyway, after Jonas followed him when Roglic decided it was his turn for a stage win. Jonas had already attacked Kuss twice, so it was Jonas who was within seconds of taking the lead before Kuss was 'gifted' the win. It felt a bit like Roglic was being thrown under the bus when the team made his unhappiness public.Hills3314-11-2026
- POG1, another nice doc about our favourite, I watched most of it with a big smile on my face (except for the bits about his crashes 😢 obvs!).Lozza14-11-2026
- Martinez had a good year! 5th at the Tour was a great result for him, albeit largely through getting in successful breaks, but he held it better than Pidcock who’d done the same.Lozza14-11-2026
- guess what Valgren, you're 34, and no you're not good enough. sorry to say.mij14-11-2026
- I'm a sepp fan and like to think he earned that LOL, indulge me : ) I think Jonas was fine. Roglic did not want to concede to Sepp. and I don't think you ever attack your own teammate in the leaders jersey if he is holding his own, which Sepp just about was.mij14-11-2026
- enough time? he's 24 years old. He's won 10 races over the last 2 years and some are significant. I won't argue about his attitude being good - it needs to improve. But with some coaching and mentorship he has a lot of winning ahead of him and has plenty of time to win a GT. I don't think he will ever beat Tadej, but everyone else is fair game Look at Mas and Valverde - they were 31 and 29, respectively, when they won the Vuelta.mij14-11-2026
- Pogacar has a fine head on his shoulders.Careful investments and a couple of coffee shops sounds like a wonderful way to chill after an intense career.Stay healthy GOAT.
Brucegel14-11-2026 - I live in Maribor.PogiSloFans14-11-2026
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🏅@jordimeeus is our final winner of the #TDF2023 🏅@jordimeeus est notre dernier vainqueur du #TDF2023 #TDF2023 | @Continental_fr
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