The 2022 Tour de France was Denmark And the Danish asset Jonas Vingegaard is made for it. With the Grand Départ in Denmark and the 25-year-old’s final victory in Paris, the 2022 Tour was a true Danish tour. In an interview with the first Danish Tour winner, he gives a nice insight into the role of the bike in his life and about his ‘home routes’. So, his favorites. We’re already getting excited about going back to ’the land of everyday wonder’. Vingegaard’s Favorites: cycling in Denmark in optimal condition.
At Jonas's home: Thy National Park
Vingegaard grew up in Thy in North Jutland, one of the most beautiful regions, bordering the North Sea. A beautiful region to cycle in, and especially the National Park Thy. No wonder that the love for cycling came to Jonas here. He first rode his own laps and only later joined a local club, first in Thy, then in Aalborg and then in Odder.
But back to Thy National Park. It is literally pristine nature and there are a number of beautiful routes you can ride. If you’re looking for variety (and some beautiful gravel tracks), we have some great ideas for you. Not only are there some new, signposted routes that are beautiful, but you can also ride from here to the northern end of route 1. That’s pretty cool. Check out our Jonas’ Favorites collection on Komoot too! Both new routes have a theme:
- Animal Paradise -> you mainly drive past otters, cranes and other bird species, while you drive through the hilly landscape that dates back to the Ice Age.
- Forces of Nature -> Here you really drive past the North Sea. The dunes here are perhaps just as beautiful as in the Netherlands.
Of routes You can find it at the bottom of this article in the collection: Vingegaards’ Favorites: cycling in Denmark
Cycling in North Jutland
Back to Jonas and his family. Nowadays he lives in Glyngøre, also in North Jutland, about 2.5 hours by bike from where he grew up. He knows this route like the back of his hand. Since his teenage years this has been his training area. These are the routes and roads that he still finds fantastic: ‘the nature is wonderful and there is little traffic’, said the young Tour winner.
Aalborg
Vingegaard was also a member of the local cycling club in Aalborg, the northernmost city in Denmark. There are also some beautiful routes waiting for you there, according to the Dane. The most beautiful routes you can find there are those between Hobro, Aalborg and further along the east coast between Hans (what’s in a name) and Hadsund. If you combine those two, you have 180km ahead of you. Of course, you can do that in two stages, but for the real endurance cyclists this is a beautiful (sunny) day on the bike. Another favorite of Vingegaard is the route around Mors, a small island in the Limfjord and around Salling, the peninsula near Glyngøre.
As a final tip, Vingegaard will tackle the Pøt Mølle climb, located about 30 kilometers from Aarhus. It is a climb of 565 meters in length, with an average of 9.7 percent. We are very excited about this climb. It seems a bit like the better climbing in Limburg, Flanders and Luxembourg. It is not surprising that Jonas will still manage to pull this climb out. Exactly on this hill, the later Tour winner Vingegaard made his breakthrough in 2016. It is also considered the toughest climb in Denmark.
Denmark breathes cycling
Jonas and his young family like to travel around their home country after the season is over. So who knows, maybe you could go for a ride with him around Glyngøre sometime. He says about cycling in Denmark: ‘The bike fits so well in the back of the car, so I can take it everywhere in Denmark when I visit friends or family and that way I can train wherever I am.‘ Of course, it also helps that Denmark is a safe place to cycle, with good routes and little traffic.
When we were in the region in May 2022 to explore the tour route, it was exactly like that. The people are very friendly, they take you into account, and in general there is much less traffic than, for example, in the Netherlands.
Jonas Vingegaard on the start of the Tour
“The most beautiful view was when we were driving over the Great Belt Bridge; that was truly a wonderful memory.”
READ ALSO: Our articles about the tour route in Denmark & the beautiful journey of the Pedaleurs in April 2022.
- Following the Tour, on detour through Denmark
- Cycling in Denmark: In the footsteps of the Tourstart (2)
- Cycling to Denmark: Wanderlust & Hygge
Netflix and chill
In 2023, a Netflix documentary about Vingegaard will be released, putting him back in the spotlight with detailed ‘behind the scenes’ content. You can then get an insight into what it takes to win the Tour and what details are important to grab that few seconds of advantage. The documentary is scheduled for the first half of 2023.
Questions & tips
Do you have any questions about this route, or have you been there yourself? Share them here. We read everything and usually respond within a few days.