On the podium on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, big Tour de France winners were crowned, from Jonas Vingegaard, who took the yellow jersey for the second time, to Jasper Philipsen, who also took the green points jersey.

Victor Campenaerts was also there Sunday night, albeit not in one of the Tour's four famous jerseys. The Lotto-Dostony rider was awarded the Super Combinat prize for his efforts throughout July.

The Belgian rider saved the race for his team, which endured a tough Tour, with Caleb Yuan leaving the race on stage 13 and Pascal Enckhorn and Maxime Van Gils taking two second places, the best results for the team.

"This is very special. I have been on the World Championship podium before (Innsbruck 2018), which is also very special. But you can't compare it to this. It's definitely different," Kampenaerts told Het Nieuwsblad on Sunday.

"You finish here and immediately there is a podium and a live interview that is said to be broadcast in 190 countries. This is incomparable. It's very special."

Campenaerts, who holds the Giro d'Italia stage win and the world time record that will be held from April 2019 to August 2022, said receiving the podium award in Paris is the bigger highlight than either.

"The experience of being on the podium at this moment is so much more important to me than the world hour record. I'll look back on it next week, but it's a great moment in my euphoria right now."

Campenaerts has successfully escaped five times in 21 days at the Tour, including last week's stages 18 and 19, winning the Combat Award on both days.

In the former, he dropped out of the breakaway to bridge teammate Eenkhorn, worked for the Dutchman, and led the sprint while the breakaway group pulled away from the peloton.

He was joined by Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), Julien Alaphilipps (Soudal-QuickStep), Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroen), Krist Neilands (Israel Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Mathieu Bourgault (Total Energies) and Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché Circus Wanty), who beat out others.

"I definitely did not expect this. "After Pascal Enckhorn got away from the peloton sprint [on stage 18], it was suggested that if I could get back into the breakaway group, maybe I could win the super combination prize. I had never thought about that before. I'm very happy with that."

Lotto-Doustny sport director Mario Aerts told Het Nieuwsblad that Campenaerts was "super motivated every morning" and motivated his teammates with that attitude during the race.

"He has a plan every day. He's been out for a long time and wasn't fully prepared for this Tour. He's in better shape than ever," Aerts said.

"Victor gets the other players involved. There's teamwork, but most of all he's an instigator who motivates everyone. I think the fans enjoy it too."

"As Mohoric pointed out in his interview after the stage win, every player suffers, but Victor handles it well. Yesterday morning he said, 'My legs hurt, but I'm going to try anyway.'