Tadej Pogacar just flat out won his record-equalling fifth Tour de France. The 27-year-old from UAE Team Emirates-XRG rolled across the Champs-Elysees finish line in the peloton, officially cementing his place alongside legends Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain. This guy is on another level, and frankly, the rest of the cycling world is just trying to keep up.
Nobody Can Touch This Guy
Let’s be real, Pogacar is making a serious case for the greatest cyclist of all time. We’re talking about a guy superseding the achievements and status of Belgian legend Merckx here! This isn’t just one big win; it marks his third consecutive Tour de France title. He sealed another dominant victory with a record-breaking ascent of the iconic Alpe d’Huez on stage 19, which was the last of his four stage wins in this race. What’s his secret? An explosive launch and an unmatched, metronomic pace that leaves rivals with virtually no answer. He’s won almost every major race you can name: the Tour of Flanders, Giro d’Italia, Milan-San Remo, Road World Championships, Giro di Lombardia, and Liege-Bastgone-Liege. With 126 wins in an eight-year elite professional career, the numbers speak for themselves. You know it’s getting wild when some fans are booing him during the Tour, simply because his performances are so far ahead of his peers that they feel the sport is losing its competitive edge. Talk about a compliment, right?
Wild Finish on the Cobbles
While Pogacar was busy making history, the final stage on the Champs-Elysees delivered some serious drama thanks to the Netherlands’ Mathieu van der Poel. The Alpecin-Premier Tech rider took the stage win after a frantic charge to the line on the French capital’s famous cobbles, pipping Denmark’s Mads Pedersen by mere inches. Organizers changed the parcours last year, adding a cobbled climb over Montmartre hill, which encouraged more powerful riders to challenge. Van der Poel, a powerhouse classics legend, charged away with Pogacar with 11km remaining. They led through those picturesque, narrow lanes over Montmartre and past Sacre-Coeur, where some fans even had their mobile phones knocked out of their hands as the riders squeezed past! Pogacar eventually faded after three weeks of pure dominance, but Van der Poel’s strength and staying power allowed him to pull out gaps, just managing to stay ahead of a rapidly closing chasing pack. He collapsed off his bike at the end, breathing heavily for several minutes. This prestigious victory adds to his resume, which includes multiple wins in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. As Van der Poel put it, “We have a saying in Dutch that it has to come for your toes. I don’t know where this came from, but not from my toes.” Oh, and that stage was cut from 133km to 89km because emergency services were redirected to tackle wildfires in south-west France. Wild.
So, what’s next for the sport? The only rider who’s broken Pogacar’s stranglehold on cycling’s biggest race in the past was Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, who took home the wins in 2022 and 2023. But this year, the 29-year-old abandoned after breaking his collarbone on an easy right-hand bend on stage 15. That’s a huge blow to the competition. With Vingegaard out, it begs the question: who, if anyone, can truly challenge Pogacar moving forward? The rest of the peloton has their work cut out for them!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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