Ben Hamilton
July 28th, 2022

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Now that’s what we call a greeting (all photos: Hasse Ferrold)

Fifty thousand-plus photos, 4,350 selfies, 1,231 back-slaps, 743 shirt signings and 13 and a half pancakes – yesterday was such a busy day for 2022 Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard that he probably wished he was approaching the ascent of the Hautacam on Stage 18 with the race still in the balance.

On that day he shone, grabbing his second stage victory to move further ahead of fierce rival Tadej Pogačar, and again he was ‘The Sun’, this time before thousands of adoring fans at Rådhuspladsen, the City Hall square in the centre of Copenhagen. He arrived following an hour-long trip from the city’s airport in an open-top Mercedes, during which he was greeted by streets lined with fans in all manner of Tour de France colours – one last use of the t-shirt before it winds up in a charity shop.

At the door to City Hall he was greeted by quite the entourage. The first to greet him was the Copenhagen lady mayor, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen.

Also present was the former prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, a keen cyclist himself.

And fittingly, the French ambassador, Christophe Parisot, who arrived in Denmark earlier this month just in time to witness the impact of the tour on the people of Denmark … and the people of Denmark’s impact on the tour.

Quite a view greeted Vingegaard when he took to the balcony for the traditional wave. The police took to Twitter to warn the public not to use the local Metro station.

But before that he gave a speech …

and posed with countless well-wishers who will no doubt treasure their mementos from the day … or at least until they try to sell them on eBay in a few years time.

Vingegaard’s wife and daughter joined him on the balcony, and then later on the Tivoli train as the procession moved to the themepark.

It was a big thumbs up from Pierrot, one of the Tivoli regulars, who wouldn’t look out of place dangling from the Eiffel Tower, it has to be said.

But whose idea was it for the French ambassador to emerge from a huge bunch of flowers? Still, we agree Your Excellency, there can only be one number one, and this year he belongs to Denmark.