Jonas Vingegaard was crowned Tour de France champion on Sunday after a gruelling 3,350km, 21-stage race, ending a journey which had its roots in the mundane surroundings of a fish factory in his native Denmark.

He follows compatriot Bjarne Riis who won the world’s most famous bike race – although later admitted to doping – in 1996, the year Vingegaard was born.

“Every day was quick, fast, it’s been rough. There has been a lot of attacking. It must have looked good on television,” said the champion.

It is a stunning success for Vingegaard, three weeks after the race pedalled off from Copenhagen for the first of three stages on home ground.

Over 35,000 paying fans had packed into Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens to greet the Tour de France riders before the race.

When it came to the turn of Dutch outfit Jumbo Visma, a roar went up which seemed to overwhelm the 25-year-old co-captain of the team, a quiet, unassuming rider.

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