Vingegaard had pulled clear of closest challenger Tadej Pogačar, the Slovenian riding for UAE Team Emirates who won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, on back-to-back stages on Tuesday (July 18) and Wednesday (July 19).

He had held the yellow jersey since stage six, the earliest the race winner has maintained the lead since 1981.

Despite Pogačar's victory in the mountains yesterday, Vingegaard went into the final stage, largely ceremonial for the general classification, 7min 29sec clear.

Tradition dictates the overall leader is uncontested on the final stage of the Tour de France, and Vingegaard enjoyed a glass of champagne with his team-mates en route to the finish line in Paris.

They crossed the finish line in 2 hours 58min 25sec to confirm Vingegaard as the winner of the general classification.

Pogačar finished second overall at 7:29 behind Vingegaard, the largest margin of victory since Italy's Vincenzo Nibali beat France's Jean-Christophe Péraud by 7:37 in 2014.

Pogačar's British team-mate Adam Yates completed the podium at 10:56 adrift of the leader.

Vingegaard became the first Dane to win the Tour de France last year, and is now the 22^nd rider to have won the race more than once.

He said afterwards he had "enjoyed every day".

With Vingegaard finishing second behind Pogačar in 2021, this year's race marked the first time the same two riders have occupied the top two places on the general classification for three years running on the Tour de France.

This year's edition also marked the first time the same riders had finished first and second two years in a row since 1979.

The 115.1 kilometres flat final stage began at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, which is due to host track cycling at next year's Olympic and Paralympic Games, and concluded with eight laps of the Champs-Élysées.

It culminated in a bunch sprint, in which Belgium's Meeus justified his selection by Bora-Hansgrohe instead of Ireland's Sam Bennett, who won the points classification and two stages in 2020.

He crossed the finish line in 2:56:13, narrowly beating compatriot Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck, who won the green jersey for the points classification despite missing out on a fifth stage victory on this year's race.

Meeus described his victory as "definitely the greatest day in my sporting career".

Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen of Team Jayco-AlUla completed the top three for the final stage.

Meeus was the 17^th different stage winner on this year's Tour, the most since 2008, with only Philipsen and Pogačar triumphing more than once.

Next year's Tour de France finale is set to be held outside of the Paris region for the first time to avoid a clash with preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

The final stage has finished on the Champs-Élysées since 1975, but is due to run from Monaco to Nice next year.

It is set to be a time trial, a format not used on the Champs-Élysées since 1989, which organisers believe could mean the race is "undecided until the last few kilometres".