Tadej Pogačar Seals Tour de France with Historic Stage 21 Win

Pogačar is the sixth rider ever to complete the Giro-Tour double, joining Coppi Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Roche, Indurain, and Pantani in the history books. 


BY MICHAEL VENUTOLO-MANTOVANI |

In the end, this year’s Tour de France played out almost exactly as everyone thought it would. At least, at the pointy end of the race, it did. After all, not many of us picked Biniam Girmay to win the green jersey, Romain Bardet to wear the yellow jersey, Arkéa-B&B Hotels to win a stage, or so many of the other amazing surprises we’ve seen over the last three weeks.

Tadej Pogačar(UAE Team Emirates) spent much of the Tour looking as he has looked for most of the year: damn near invincible.

Pogačar entered five races this year—Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo, Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Giro d’Italia, and the Tour de France—and won four of them. His “worst” finish was a third place at Milano-Sanremo.

Behind him, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) fought valiantly, just a few weeks removed from the horrific crash that hospitalised him for two weeks. And, until crashes took him out of the race, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) battled the best young rider, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), for the final spot on the podium.

But unlike most years, the 111th Tour de France didn’t end with a processional into the Champs Élysées, where the sprinters battled it out for the most important stage win in bike racing.

Rather, this year’s Tour would culminate with a 33.7-kilometre trek from Monaco to Nice, an uncommon finishing point due to the impending Paris Olympics. It was the first time the Grand Bouclé finished with a time trial since the historic culmination of 1989’s Tour when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by just eight seconds. That was thirty-five years ago, a decade before much of today’s peloton was even born. It was the first time Le Tour had finished outside of Paris since 1905.

The day did feature one category-two climb, the 8.1-kilometre, 5.6-percent La Turbie, which, in a closer race, might have suited Vingegaard. However, the two-time reigning Tour champion sat 5:14 behind the Yellow Jersey heading into Sunday, making Stage 21 something of a typical processional for Pogačar. But, as the last few stages have shown us, Pogačar doesn’t know how not to race.

One spot behind Vinegaard in the overall standings sat Evenepoel, the current world champion in the time trial. And so, all eyes would be on the battle for second place, to see if Evenepoel could claw back the 2:50 gap between him and second place, a gap Vingegaard wisely padded in the Alps, where he was the far superior climber.

Groupama-FDJ’s Lenny Martínez set a blistering time of 48:24 early, giving him the first extended stay in the hot seat. His first scare came an hour later when Victor Campanaerts (Lotto-Dstny) came within fourteen seconds of unseating Martínez. Shortly after Campanaerts finished, Astana-Qazaqstan’s Harold Tejada bested Martínez by ten seconds.

Evenepoel rolled out of the start house with ferocity, hoping to double up on the Tour’s two time trial stages.

For the final day until at least 2026, Vingegaard wore the number 1 on his jersey, pushing a massive chainring with the hopes of taking one final win as Tour de France champion. Behind him, wrapped in yellow from head to toe, Pogačar chased his sixth stage win of this year’s Tour.

While the top three were on the course, a few riders cycled in and out of the hot seat. First, Premier Tech’s Derek Gee, who didn’t even have time to get off his bike before Visma-Lease a Bike’s Matteo Jorgenson posted the day’s best time.

Evenepoel took over first place when he crossed the line fifty-four seconds clear of Jorgenson. He was unseated just a few moments later when Vingegaard finished eleven seconds faster.

Tadej Pogačar wins the final stage of the 2024 tour de France by more than one minute and two seconds
Photo: A.S.O./Billy Ceusters

But as he’s done so many times throughout this season and this Tour, Pogačar absolutely smashed the competition, winning the stage by more than one minute and two seconds. It was his sixth stage win of this year’s Tour de France.

He was the first rider to win the Tour’s final three stages since Charles Pelissier won the final four stages in 1930.

RELATED: Famous Champions in Tour de France History

“I cannot describe how happy I am,” Pogačar said after the stage concluded. “Two hard years in the Tour de France. This year, everything went to perfection. Incredible. This is the first Grand Tour where I was confident every day. Even in the Giro, I had one bad day, but I won’t tell which one. But this year, the Tour de France was amazing. I was enjoying it from day one until today. I had great support around me. I just couldn’t let anyone down.”

This moment of cycling is beautiful.

Pogačar added that his partner’s voice played in his head during today’s time trial.

“In my head, I had Urska saying how she hates me for doing all the time this road on the training,” he said. “We did it so many times this year, so I would not waste it.”

“To win only the Giro would be an incredible year,” Pogačar said. “To win the Tour de France, it’s a whole other level. To win both together, it’s another level above that level.

Asked what his next target might be, Pogačar said, “Van der Poel looks really good in the World Championships jersey, but I want to take it from him this year. I want to have the rainbow jersey on my back.”

“I think in the last two years, we’ve been hearing that this is the best era of cycling,” he concluded. “If I had not been competing myself, I could say this is the best cycling era ever. This kind of competition with Remco, Jonas, and Primož is just incredible. This moment of cycling is beautiful.”

The final jersey holders of the 2024 Tour de France
Photo: A.S.O./Billy Ceusters

The Final Jersey Standings

Yellow Jersey (Overall) – Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Green Jersey (Points) – Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)

Polka Dot Jersey (Mountains) – Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)

White Jersey (Young Rider) – Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)

Team – UAE Team Emirates

READ MORE ON: 2024 Tour de France Tajej Pogačar Tour de France

Copyright © 2024 Hearst
..