Excitement at the Tour de France seems guaranteed for the next few years. A young generation has taken over. Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Egan Bernal, Remco Evenepoel and Jay Hindley are only a few years apart. What role can Lennard Kämna play?
Paris was just a foretaste of Copenhagen. After his tour triumph, Jonas Vingegaard was already celebrated on the Champs-Élysées by many Danes with chants, on Wednesday the party is likely to escalate. Then the shy 25-year-old appears on the balcony of Copenhagen City Hall – the huge square in front of it is likely to become a madhouse. Already on Monday, the front pages of many Danish media were radiant in the strong yellow of the Maillot Jaune. “It was the best Tour de France of all time,” summed up the tabloid “BT.” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also shared in the euphoria. “This was an outstanding tour for Danish cycling – all the way from Copenhagen to Paris.”
Denmark 2022 feels like Denmark 1996: Bjarne Riis, a Dane, had already won the glorious Tour de France back then, but as he admitted years later, he was extensively doped in his success. All that seems forgotten now that Vingegaard comes home triumphant. “It’s been an incredible journey. It’s very big for me,” said Vingegaard, who emphasized that you can believe in his achievements. “We’re totally clean. Each of us. I can speak for the whole team. None of us take anything forbidden,” he said, while also explaining what his Jumbo-Visma team is doing better than others. “We are so good because of our preparation. We have developed high-altitude training camps. We look at the material, the nutrition, the training. The team is one of the best in these areas. That’s why you have to believe us.”
The slim guy from Jutland has brought his country into an ecstasy that seemed unthinkable in the years after Riis’s doping admission. Ironically, in the year in which the tour began in the bike-loving Danish capital Copenhagen, the much-described boy from the fish factory triumphed over Tadej Pogacar, who was considered unbeatable.
The leading newspaper Politiken already put Vingegaard’s triumph on a par with Denmark’s victory at the 1992 European Football Championship and the successes of tennis queen Caroline Wozniacki. “Jyllands-Posten” wrote: “The Tour de France was exactly what we needed in a time of war and crisis. A dream in yellow and red and white, and a fantastic Jonas Vingegaard as Tourminator.”
Vingegaard cannot yet assess what is to come. Four years ago he was still working in a fish factory in Hanstholm, last year he gave his impressive tour premiere with second place and before the start in Copenhagen he was still in the shadow of captain Primoz Roglic. He hasn’t created a big career plan yet. “It’s not like my goal is to win the Tour five times. I want to come back and try to win it again,” said the 25-year-old.
Then he will meet a “very motivated” Tadej Pogacar, 23 years old, and other well-known competition. Because a new, young generation has long since taken command in cycling. Ex-tour champion Egan Bernal, 25 years old, who fell so badly in winter, is likely to make claims again. And then there’s 22-year-old Belgian talent of the century Remco Evenepoel, who is yet to make his tour debut. “It will be interesting in the next few years,” said Pogacar and manager Ralph Denk from the Bora-hansgrohe team added: “It looks like it’s a new development. The top teams have learned a lot about how to deal with young people. “
And what role can the Germans play in this youth spectacle? First and foremost, Lennard Kämna should be mentioned, who according to Denk is “a huge enrichment for us and also for the cycling fans”. The 25-year-old has made a name for himself as a stage hunter. In 2020 he won the Tour in Villard-de-Lans, this year at the Giro on Mount Etna. Is there more? “We will discuss with him whether we dare to go for an overall ranking in a Grand Tour. But there is no pressure from the team,” Denk told dpa.
Kämna himself can also imagine it, but believes that he still has “one or two steps to go”. In any case, Bora is well positioned for the future alongside the former junior world champion with young tour drivers, such as Giro winner Jay Hindley and the Russian tour fifth Alexander Vlasov – both are 26.