Tadej Pogacar has won the Tour de France for the fifth time | Bike News

The Tour victory is the Slovenian’s third in a row and moves him level with four others on the all-time list.

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar secured a record-equaling fifth Tour de France record on Sunday when he cruised through the final stage, won by Mathieu van der Poel, to seal a third consecutive crown at the tour’s biggest stage.

The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates XRGcyclist, also known as “Pogi”, only needed to avoid a crash at the end of the race in Paris to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and ⁠Miguel Indurain as a five-time winner.

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Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel finished second, while Mexico’s Isaac del Toro took third.

“Thank you to all the French fans for hosting this great tournament,” Pogacar said.

“Congratulations to my competitors for a great performance. We fought hard the last three weeks.”

Van der Poel takes the final step

Pogacar and Van der Poel broke away at the final stage of Montmartre with about 10km (6 miles) to go and gained a small advantage on the run to the Champs-Elysees as the chasing group closed steadily.

The Slovenian’s challenge faded within the final kilometer, but Van der Poel held on to take the photo victory ahead of Alpecin-Premier Tech team-mate Jasper Philipsen, and Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen in third.

“When I was sick last year, and I had to watch the stage on television, I was already thinking about this moment,” said Van der Poel, 31.

“The way it went, it’s a dream. It’s amazing. It was very difficult, and to be up there with the best rider in the world, all my respect to Tadej.

“I thought we were going to come back, so I’m just thinking about this moment. I put my head down at 500 meters. I just went as hard as I could.

I am very happy. I have a few races that I still wanted to win in my career, and this was one of them.

Supreme Pogacar

Pogacar proved his supremacy throughout the tour by securing five victories.

His path to a third straight yellow jersey became more difficult when two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard, who is considered to be his main contender, pulled out after a crash on Stage 15.

The ceremonial end of the Tour in Paris was cut short after security forces were deployed again to help fight wildfires near Bordeaux. As a result, Stage 21, which tends to take the peloton to Paris before several rounds of the Champs-Elysees, was reduced to 89km from the 133km originally planned.

This year’s race has produced another spectacular event: no rider from France, Italy or Spain has won a stage, making it the first Tour de France without a victory from the three countries that have created and hosted cycling’s Grand Tours.

Pogacar’s latest victory comes three weeks after the Grand Depart in Barcelona and further cements his position as the greatest rider of his generation.