Tadej Pogacar ignited an explosive final stage of the Tour de France in Paris, from Mantes-la-Ville to the Champs Élysées, while sealing his fourth overall victory in the race since 2020.
Despite a downpour on the treacherous cobbles of Montmartre, Pogacar put in a daredevil performance, attacking on each of the three climbs to Sacre Coeur, only to be finally distanced by the stage winner Wout van Aert, of the Visma Lease a Bike team.
Pogacar had effectively confirmed his fourth Tour de France win during the final stage, after the cobbled climbs and descents over the Côte de la Butte Montmartre were neutralised because of the wet conditions, ensuring there would be no more changes to the overall standings.
With the Tour won, there was no incentive for the Slovenian to attack, but a prestigious stage victory was still at stake and on the first climb of Montmartre he and Van Aert led a group in pursuit of Julian Alaphilippe, who had made the first move on the steep cobbles of Rue Lepic.
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Despite the torrential rain, Pogacar and five others moved clear. Another devastating acceleration on the final climb of Rue Lepic blew the lead group apart, but Van Aert clung on and his explosive power eventually took him past the Slovenian and ahead to victory.
Pogacar, whose previous wins came in 2020, 2021 and 2024, comfortably beat his closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, by almost four and half minutes, in what both riders acknowledged was the hardest edition of the race they have competed in.
Germany’s Florian Lipowitz, in his Tour debut, finished third, while Scotland’s Oscar Onley, riding only his second, placed fourth overall.
Stage wins in Rouen, Mûr-de-Bretagne, Hautacam and Peyragudes, further confirmed Pogacar as the most accomplished rider of his generation. He also won the 2024 Giro d’Italia, the 2024 World Road Race championships, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders and multiple other stage races including Paris-Nice, Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour of Catalunya.
In his wake, the hapless Vingegaard has every reason to feel hard done by, although his pledge to risk all in pursuit of the yellow jersey, even if it meant losing second place, never truly materialised, save for on Mont Ventoux.
It is the Dane’s misfortune that he is racing in the era of Pogacar. He would almost certainly have added to his tally of two Tour wins if the Slovenian was not his contemporary.
At the same time, his Visma Lease a Bike team never had the measure of the task facing them and internal politics, cited by his wife Trine Vingegaard Hansen even before the race began, have also played their part.
“It can’t be good for Jonas if you also focus on stage wins for others,” Hansen said. “You can only have respect for how Pogacar does it. When he’s at the start of a race, there’s no doubt about who the leader is.”
The uncertainty over Visma Lease a Bike’s commitment to the cause became increasingly obvious as the race went on. As a contest, it was definitively over after the stage to Mont Ventoux, when Vingegaard’s most determined attacks went unrewarded.
After consecutive defeats in the Tour by Pogacar, the Dane’s long‑term future with the Visma Lease a Bike team is now the subject of growing speculation.
Elsewhere, Ineos Grenadiers continue to look a spent force in terms of contending for the yellow jersey, but other talents have come to the fore, with Onley and Ireland’s Ben Healy, who placed ninth, both having excellent Tours.
Onley’s wholly unexpected performance, in a particularly gruelling Tour in which his own team manager, Matt Winston, had expected him to fall away, was one of the highlights of the race.
Healy’s stage win in Vire and his brief spell in the yellow jersey, allied to his top-10 finish, have reinforced his status as a team leader and fuelled his ambitions for future Grand Tours. He was also awarded the Tour’s most combative rider award to compete a fine three weeks.
But this was Pogacar’s Tour, a race in which he never looked threatened and in which he maintained physical and psychological mastery of the peloton throughout. He has now won 21 stages in the Tour since winning the race overall on his debut in 2020.
Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour, when asked on Sunday if Pogacar’s domination was credible, said that “cycling has to live with the doubts, with suspicion, given the history of the sport”.
He added: “Pogacar was third in the Vuelta a España at just 20 years old and, when he won in 2020, he was the youngest winner of the Tour since 1904. He’s a champion who wins from February to October, a champion who can win the Classics, challenge Mathieu Van der Poel in Paris‑Roubaix and dominate in the Pyrenean stages of the Tour, against Jonas Vingegaard.
“Yes, we hoped for more of a duel, but it wasn’t to be.” – Guardian
