2023-10-24 20:26:16
To launch a new version of a trophy, there’s nothing better than offering yourself a winner who will get people talking. Obviously, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, winner this year of the Tour de France, the Critérium du Dauphiné and second in the Vuelta, is a more than honorable 2023 Vélo d’Or. But many had thought of the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel who offered himself two monuments of cycling this year, Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, with a rainbow cherry, his first world champion title last August in Scotland.
Raymond Poulidor’s grandson is part of this caste of runners that we see from winter to fall. As a form of consolation, he received the “Vélo d’Or des Classiques”, a chocolate medal prize which did not really encourage him to make the trip this Tuesday evening to the Pavillon Gabriel.
Dutch Demi Vollering crowned among women
Jonas Vingegaard was well in the Paris region. But on another scene, a few dozen kilometers away. The Dane, who had marked the presentation date of the 2024 Tour route, Wednesday morning, had reserved his Tuesday evening for months for a private evening at Disneyland Paris. He had invited many relatives and was unable to change the date. For the first of this Vélo d’Or ceremony, which is intended to be the cycling counterpart of the Ballon d’Or, the organizers will therefore have been less varnished.
On the red carpet, the three faces that attracted the most attention were quite experienced. Bernard Hinault and Eddy Merckx, both five-time winners of the Tour de France, were chatting with Pavillon Gabriel regular Michel Drucker. And then seeing the two cycling legends together on stage offered a nice little shot of nostalgia to the ceremony.
Among the French, Christophe Laporte, European champion and winner of Ghent-Wevelgem, was a much more consensual French Vélo d’Or. And he made the trip. “I feel like I’m progressing,” he emphasizes. In 2022, I had a fantastic season. In 2023, it was even better. And I don’t set any limits for 2024.” The same ambition was declaimed by the Dutchwoman Demi Vollering, winner of the 2023 Women’s Tour. Smiling, she would have been perfect in the photo with Vingegaard. But the latter therefore preferred Mickey.
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