Tadej Pogacar secures fifth Tour de France victory as Mathieu van der Poel wins final stage
Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia has claimed his record-equalling fifth Tour de France title. The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider finished the final stage on Paris’ Champs-Elysees within the peloton, joining an elite group of riders including Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain who have achieved five victories in the endurance event.
Pogacar’s win marks his third consecutive Tour de France triumph. His performance included a record ascent of Alpe d’Huez on stage 19, where he secured another dominant victory, one of his five stage wins in the race. He has won numerous major races in the sport, such as the Tour of Flanders, Giro d’Italia, Milan-San Remo, Road World Championships, Giro di Lombardia, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, accumulating 127 wins in his eight-year professional career.
The final stage of the Tour de France was won by the Netherlands’ Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech. He secured victory after a charge to the finish line on the cobbled streets of the French capital, narrowly beating his team-mate Jasper Philipsen of Belgium. Van der Poel’s win adds a prestigious victory to his list of achievements in one-day races, which include multiple wins in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
The final stage, typically a ceremonial ride for overall contenders, featured a circuit over the city’s Montmartre hill, a change introduced by organisers ASO last year to encourage more powerful riders to compete for the stage win. Van der Poel and Pogacar led through the narrow lanes over Montmartre and past Sacre-Coeur before Pogacar began to fade. Van der Poel managed to stay ahead of a chasing pack to claim the win.
The stage was shortened from 133km to 89km due to the redirection of emergency services to assist with wildfires in south-west France. This marks the third stage of this year’s Tour to be affected by prefecture intervention due to wildfires or a heatwave. Wildfires near the Arcachon lagoon and Biscarrosse have destroyed over 36,000 hectares of forest.
Pogacar’s dominance has led some to consider him the greatest cyclist of all time. His only recent rival in the Tour de France has been Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, who won in 2022 and 2023. However, Vingegaard, a 29-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider, abandoned this year’s race after breaking his collarbone on stage 15. The incident occurred after an anti-doping test conducted by the International Testing Agency (ITA) at 2am, which the ITA stated was due to “exceptional circumstances.”
Another strong competitor was Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, who finished six minutes 26 seconds behind Pogacar in the general classification. Isaac del Toro, Pogacar’s Mexican team-mate, secured third place overall and the white jersey for the best young rider. Del Toro, 22, won stage two and was aided by Pogacar, who sacrificed his own potential victory on Saturday’s ‘queen’ stage to Alpe d’Huez to help consolidate Del Toro’s podium position.
Del Toro’s white jersey came at the expense of France’s 19-year-old Paul Seixas of Decathlon-CMA CGM, who faded on Saturday’s climbs. Many observers believe Seixas could become a future rival to Pogacar. The race also saw Britain’s Tom Pidcock of Pinarello-Q36.5 finish ninth in the general classification, building on his third place in last year’s Vuelta a Espana, despite his team, Netcompany Ineos Cycling, not securing a stage victory.
Among the jersey winners, Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz of EF Education-Easypost claimed the king of the mountains’ polka dot jersey. He won stage 18 and stage 20, topping the race’s highest point after 5,450km of climbing. The green points jersey was awarded to Denmark’s Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek, who won stage four and consistently earned mid-stage points. Pedersen beat several sprinters, including Philipsen, who won stage 17, and Belgium’s Tim Merlier of Soudal-Quick Step, who won three bunch sprint stages.
The final general classification after stage 21 saw Pogacar in first place with a time of 73 hours 56 minutes 26 seconds.
Source: bbc.co.uk