In the end, it was the Col de Granon that made the 2022 Tour de France. The alpine climb overlooking Briançon brought the capital view of the unwavering Tadej Pogačar passed by the sword through his main rival for the yellow jersey, Jonas Vingaard.
It has been 8 days since the Slovenian collapsed in the Alps, causing his Danish opponent to lose only about 3 minutes. The Tour title, of course, didn’t end definitively, just after the midpoint.
However, with the passing of the stages and with them Pogačar’s numerous attacks, it seemed very likely that the only newly crowned king of the Tour would be dethroned two years after what some had predicted would be a dynasty to match – or surpass – from those of Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain and Froome.
This can happen, of course, even if his dominance of the race is no longer assured, given that Vingaard has been similarly immediate in the last two editions.
Before Granon, Vingaard is perhaps the only driver to have challenged UAE Team Emirates’ Pogačar this summer. Since that fateful finish at the top, Vingaard himself has run like a guy like no other.
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Daniel Ostanek is editor-in-chief of Cyclingnews, joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and was later hired as editor. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most of the leading publications in the world of cycling, adding CyclingWeekly, Rouleur and Tips for Cyclists.
Daniel reported on racing in the world, adding the Tour de France and the Spring Classics, and interviewed several of the sport’s biggest stars, adding Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mark Cavendish, Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen.
In addition to the original reporting, story and report writing, and production work, Daniel also directs The Leadout newsletter and oversees the season’s How to Watch guides. His favourite races are Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix, and he drives a Colnago C40.
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