Jonas Vingegaard went into the final weekend of the Tour de France with his yellow jersey all but assured.
It is the mountain stages that so typically settle the general classification in Grand Tours, and this edition of Le Tour proved no different.
A dominant ride on stage 18 saw Vingegaard, with admirable support from Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert, drop two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar on the final ascent in the Pyrenees.
Vingegaard powered away on that last climb, leaving Pogacar in his wake, and well over three minutes behind overall in the hunt for the yellow jersey, as the Dane collected just a second Grand Tour stage win of his career, the first having come on July 13 to put him in command of the race.
That left Vingegaard merely needing to safely negotiate the final three stages – two sprint finishes and a time trial – and he did just that, parading into Paris on Sunday with his grip on the yellow jersey firmly intact. Now he is the champion, a remarkable feat considering where he has come from.
Pogacar's Slovenian compatriot Primoz Roglic has previously been Jumbo-Visma's main hope, but an exceptional team ride has also represented a passing of the baton to Vingegaard, the 25-year-old who four years ago was working at a fish factory to supplement his income. Vingegaard was recruited by the team based on a remarkable time up a daunting climb in Spain, which was subsequently posted to the popular training application Strava.
Jumbo-Visma have turned in a team performance for the ages. Their plan, and subsequent execution, has been near-perfect. Even the loss of Roglic, whose attention will now turn to winning yet another Vuelta a Espana title, could not derail this powerhouse unit heading into the final week.
Vingegaard's first win, on stage 11 up the Col du Granon, came as a result of Jumbo-Visma attacking early, luring Pogacar into responding, and draining the Slovenian's energy as the 23-year-old was proven to be a mere mortal after all.
Even when stacked up against the days of when Team Sky (now INEOS Grenadiers) dominated Le Tour, Jumbo-Visma's performance this time around has been something special. As a result, they are the first team to win the yellow, polka dot (Vingegaard) and green (Van Aert) jerseys at the same edition of the race since Faema managed the feat in 1969, thanks to the great Eddy Merckx.
Vingegaard is the second Dane to win the Tour de France after Bjarne Riis in 1996, and it is the first time since 1992 that the winner of the race has been a native of the country where it started, with the first three stages of this Tour having taken place across Denmark.
Not since 2006 (Michael Rasmussen) has a Dane won the polka jot jersey, though it is the third successive edition of Le Tour that the GC leader has also claimed the King of the Mountains classification, with Pogacar having done so in 2020 and 2021. Before 2020, it had happened only three times across the previous 50 races – Merckx in 1970, Carlos Sastre in 2008 and Chris Froome in 2015.
Van Aert, meanwhile, is another star. The 27-year-old finished in second place in the opening three stages before finally claiming victory at the fourth time of asking, and his decisive attack on Hautacam gave Vingegaard the platform he needed to end Pogacar's hopes.
A sprinter by trade but a brilliant climber to boot, Van Aert never looked likely to relinquish the green jersey, easily fending off Jasper Philipsen and Pogacar for that prize. He is the first Belgian rider to win the points classification of the Tour de France since Tom Boonen in 2007.
As for Pogacar, three in a row proved one triumph too many, but when you contrast the talents of UAE Team Emirates with Jumbo-Visma, his achievements so far must be considered even more remarkable.
The white jersey, which Pogacar won in each of the last two years for the best young rider, was retained. He has been leading the youth classification over each of the last 51 racedays in the Tour de France (from stage 13 in 2020 to stage 21 in 2022), which is the longest run of consecutive racedays in the first place of a specific classification.
Pogacar will surely be back out to regain his crown in 2023 and along with Vingegaard could dominate for years to come, though do not count out Tom Pidcock from one day contesting for a jersey.
On his Grand Tour debut, the 22-year-old Briton has mightily impressed. His triumph on the famous Alpe d'Huez will go down in the record books. He not only broke the 100km/h mark on a descent, but became the youngest stage winner on the mountain in Le Tour history, breaking a 38-year record held by Lucho Herrera.
Pidcock, who won gold on the mountain bike at the Tokyo Olympics, is the 15th British rider to win a Tour de France stage, but just the second to do so on the Alpe d'Huez after Geraint Thomas, who at 36 has battled to a brilliant third-place finish overall.
It might well be the 2018 champion's swan song at Le Tour, while another veteran campaigner, Nairo Quintana, came in sixth in the general classification. That is Quintana's first top-10 Grand Tour finish since the 2019 Vuelta a Espana, and his best performance in this race since 2016.
Milan 3-1 Hellas Verona: Leao double condemns visitors to Serie A relegation play-off
Milan signed off the Serie A season with a 3-1 victory as Rafael Leao's double condemned Hellas Verona to a relegation play-off with Spezia.
The Rossoneri wrapped up a frustrating campaign on a winning note at San Siro, with a late Leao brace enough to seal three points.
Milan had already secured Champions League football for another term but struggled at times against the visitors, who cancelled out Olivier Giroud's first-half penalty through Marco Faraoni's 72nd-minute strike.
Yet Leao struck in the 85th minute and again seven minutes later, leaving Verona to face a relegation decider with Spezia, who succumbed to a late 2-1 loss at Roma.
Udinese 0-1 Juventus: Chiesa strikes but Bianconeri miss out on top-six Serie A finish
Juventus missed the chance to finish sixth in Serie A despite Federico Chiesa's strike sealing a 1-0 victory over Udinese at Dacia Arena.
After Paulo Dybala's late penalty helped Roma to a 2-1 victory over Spezia, Massimiliano Allegri's side were unable to leapfrog the Giallorossi and were forced to settle for a seventh-place finish in the league.
Chiesa's second-half strike was the difference for Juve, who were deducted 10 points for violating financial rules earlier in a rollercoaster campaign, but they suffered their lowest finish in Serie A for 12 years.
Meanwhile, Udinese finished 12th in Serie A following their 10th defeat in 12 meetings with the Old Lady.
Udinese had lost their last three but went close after just four minutes when Beto somehow headed Florian Thauvin's cross over from inside the six-yard box.
Federico Chiesa’s deflected effort hit the side-netting before Juve saw a headed opportunity go begging as Leonardo Bonucci nodded against the crossbar from seven yards out following Arkadiusz Milik's flick-on.
Chiesa continued to cause Udinese problems down the left flank, yet the sides headed into half-time goalless after a profligate showing from both teams.
Juve squandered a great chance to break the deadlock just after the hour mark, Adrien Rabiot firing wide despite being found by Milik in acres of space inside the box.
But the visitors eventually opened the scoring in the 68th minute, Chiesa receiving the ball from Manuel Locatelli before bending a brilliant shot into the bottom-right corner.
Locatelli and Angel Di Maria went close to extending the advantage and though the single goal was enough, former Juve forward Dybala was to snatch sixth place for Roma from under his old club's nose.
Celta Vigo 2-1 Barcelona: Veiga double secures safety as Celestes stun champions
Gabri Veiga scored twice as Celta Vigo clinched survival with a surprise 2-1 win over champions Barcelona on a dramatic final day of the season in LaLiga.
Starting the game in 17th, Celta knew a victory would preserve their top-flight status, and Carlos Carvalhal's men took charge as Veiga struck either side of the break.
The 21-year-old drilled into the bottom-left corner to spark wild scenes at the Balaidos shortly before half-time, then saw a fortuitous 65th-minute cross sail in off the far post.
Celta clung on after Barca substitute Ansu Fati nodded home, clinching a 13th-placed finish as Real Valladolid went down, while Barca ended the campaign 10 points clear of runners-up Real Madrid.
Barca thought they had an 11th-minute lead when Franck Kessie latched onto a rebound to beat Ivan Villar, only for a VAR review to show the midfielder was offside.
Oscar Rodriguez skewed a first-time shot just wide as Celta went close, while Robert Lewandowski saw a curling effort clip the outside of Villar's left post.
The offside flag thwarted Rodriguez as he capitalised on Marc-Andre ter Stegen's error to flick home, but Celta did go ahead on the stroke of half-time when Veiga raced onto Haris Seferovic's pass to finish across goal.
With Barca struggling for momentum, Veiga put Celta 2-0 up when his mishit cross from the right swerved over substitute goalkeeper Inaki Pena, clipping the woodwork before nestling in the back of the net.
Fati ensured a nervous finish by heading in Ousmane Dembele's cross 11 minutes from time, but Celta clung on to ensure another season of top-flight football.
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