wearing the polka dot jersey as leader of the
Mountains classification, on stage 3 in
Denmark Grand Départ and the first week The race began in
Copenhagen, Denmark for the first time, with three stages in Denmark. After finishing second in the opening time trial, behind
Yves Lampaert of ,
Wout van Aert of Jumbo–Visma took the
yellow jersey in stage 2 by virtue of bonus seconds. Danish rider
Magnus Cort of
EF Education–EasyPost took all
King of the Mountains (KoM) points available in Denmark, collecting enough for him to wear the
polka dot jersey until stage 9. During this run he claimed the record of most consecutive summits won, from former Tour champion and multi-time mountains classification winner
Federico Bahamontes. Stage 5 involved
cobbles for the first time since 2018, with Pogačar gaining time in the general classification over every contender including Vingegaard, who had mechanical issues, and Roglič who crashed and dislocated his shoulder. Stage 6 was the longest of the race, with van Aert taking part in the
breakaway to extend his lead in the points classification, before eventually being caught and falling off the back losing the overall lead. In the final uphill sprint, Pogačar out sprinted everyone to win the stage and take the
maillot jaune by virtue of the bonus seconds. Stage 7 was the first summit finish of the race at
Super Planche des Belles Filles. A group of contenders made their way up the majority of the climb together, before Vingegaard attacked and only Pogačar could follow. In a sprint on the final slope, Pogačar overtook Vingegaard to get the stage win and extend his lead to over 30 seconds. Other contenders lost between 20 seconds and over a minute to the leading two. and stage 9 in the
Swiss Alps where
Bob Jungels won the day and
Simon Geschke gained enough points to take the polka dot jersey, the first rest day took place in
Morzine. ,
Wout van Aert (in green jersey),
Jonas Vingegaard (in yellow jersey) and
Tadej Pogačar behind (in white jersey)
Week Two During the second week, stages 10 and 18 were disrupted by
Climate Change protesters, which forced stages to be halted for a short period. Media discussed the legitimacy of the protest and the effect that climate change was having on the Tour, while other coverage expressed annoyance at the disruption to the race. The second week of the race was affected by an intense
heat wave, with several stages having temperatures of around . Some riders suffered heat stroke including
Alexis Vuillermoz on stage 9. No major attacks by contenders occurred on stage 10, the first in the
French Alps, however
Lennard Kämna who was in the breakaway that finished close to ten minutes ahead of the peloton, came within eleven seconds of taking the yellow jersey from Pogačar. In the race, Pogačar attacked Vingegaard twice, with both riders dropping the other contenders on the climb, however the Slovenian rider was unable to shake off the Dane. and stage 14 was won by
Michael Matthews of from the breakaway, who was just able to drop
Alberto Bettiol prior to reaching the summit of the final intermediate climb. Behind Matthews, Pogačar and Vingegaard attacked the peloton on this same climb and extended their lead over the other contenders. Stage 15, before the second rest day, took the Tour to
Carcassonne where the final breakaway rider in
Benjamin Thomas was caught in the final few hundred meters to set up a sprint finish, which was won by
Jasper Philipsen. Jumbo–Visma lost two riders on stage 15: team leader Roglič abandoned the race following his injuries on stage 5, and
domestique Steven Kruijswijk left the race in an ambulance after dislocating his shoulder in a crash. in the yellow jersey
Week Three After a rest day in Carcassonne, the race entered the
Pyrenees.
Rafał Majka, a "key lieutenant" of Pogačar did not start stage 17, due to an injury suffered after he threw his chain near the end of stage 16. By taking maximum points at the top of Hautacam, Vingegaard gained an unassailable lead of that classification, taking the jersey from
Simon Geschke of Team , who had set a record for most days by a German rider leading the mountains classification. the final time trial to
Rocamadour was won by van Aert, followed by Vingegaard, Pogačar and Thomas. The traditional final stage on the
Champs-Élysées in Paris completed the Tour, with sprinter
Jasper Philipsen winning his second stage of the Tour.
Results In the
general classification, Vingegaard became the first Dane to win the Tour since
1996, with Pogačar in second 2 minutes 43 seconds behind. Thomas was third, over seven minutes behind. The
points classification was won by Wout van Aert with 480 points, breaking
Peter Sagan's modern record. Vingegaard also won the mountains classification, marking the first time since the
Faema team of
Eddy Merckx in
1969, that riders from the same team won the yellow and green jerseys as well as the mountains classification. The
young rider classification was won by runner-up Pogačar, who led the classification from start to finish and tied
Jan Ullrich and
Andy Schleck with his third win of this classification. The team of third place Thomas, Ineos Grenadiers, won the
team classification. Van Aert was chosen as the
most combative rider. The teams of the first two podium finishers were severely depleted by the end of the race, with Team UAE Emirates losing half its start list due to injury and illness, and Team Jumbo-Visma losing several key members along the route. and former Tour winner
Chris Froome of . In August 2022, Colombian rider
Nairo Quintana of
Arkéa–Samsic was disqualified from 6th place overall, after blood samples tested positive for
tramadol, a painkiller. ==Classification leadership==