What’s Going on with That Weird Celebration by Vingegaard?

It’s one of the weirdest celebrations in cycling, so what exactly is Jonas Vingegaard doing?

Many winning riders cross the line with extravagant gestures, outstretched arms and sometimes even primal roars of satisfaction and dominance.

Not Friday’s Giro stage winner, who instead performed one of the most understated of gestures.

He pounded the pedals, glanced backwards and, just as he crossed the line at Blockhaus, crouched low and kissed his handlebars three times.

Performative it was not. So what’s it all about?

In a word, family.

When Vingegaard the second grand tour stage win of his career back in the 2022 Tour de France, he topped Hautacam and blew a kiss. That was directed at his family rather than those standing by the finish line, something made clear by his victory celebrations in other years.

In most of the subsequent eight grand tour stage wins, he has hailed those successes by smooching his wedding ring.

Friday’s handlebar-snogging antics were different, but they came from the same place.

As Danish media outlet Feltet.dk noted his week, his bars feature a picture of his wife Trine Marie Hansen, his daughter Frida and his son Hugo.

In fact, he made the same victory gesture in March of this year when he took stages in Paris-Nice.

So will it catch on? We are not sure about that, given the explosion of emotion most other grand tour stage winners feel.

Vinegaard, though, is an introvert, and a very different character to more swashbuckling riders such as Tadej Pogačar.

But even if his actions Friday come across less alpha male and more devoted dad, there’s no doubting the sincerity.

For him, it’s family over fiesta every time.

Check out each of Jonas Vingegaard’s ten grand tour stage wins below.