Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates made history by winning his third Tour de France title on Sunday, securing his dominance with a sixth stage victory and becoming the first rider to achieve the Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double since 1998.
Slovenian triumphed over defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who finished second and third overall and on the final stage, with a lead of six minutes and 17 seconds.
Pogacar expressed his extreme happiness, unable to fully convey his joy after facing challenges in the Tour de France for two years, with his performance this year being flawless.
Pogacar dominated consecutive rivals by finishing the 33.7-km individual time trial from Monaco to Nice in 45 minutes and 24 seconds, beating Vinggaard by a lead of one minute and three seconds. Vinggaard, who had previously won the last two Tours, was left behind.
Despite having a substantial lead over Vinggaard on the final day, the winner did not play it safe and instead went for the third stage win to finish the Tour in a stylish manner.
Biniam Girmay of Eritrea claimed the green jersey in the points classification, while Richard Carapaz from Ecuador earned the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification.
UAE Team Emirates, led by Pogacar, claimed victory in the team classification, with Evenepoel earning the white jersey for best young rider after winning the stage seven time trial, finishing 9:18 behind the overall winner in his debut Tour.
For the first time in its 121-year history, the Tour de France concluded outside Paris, in light of the upcoming Olympic Games. It was also the first time since 1989, when Greg LeMond surpassed Laurent Fignon on the last day, that the Tour ended with a time trial.
This was never expected to be as exciting, but Pogacar’s clear lead and control of the race made it so.
Pogacar has been in the lead since winning stage four, increasing the lead to more than three minutes by claiming stages 14 and 15, then securing his overall victory with two more consecutive wins on stages 19 and 20.
Vingegaard had not raced in three months due to a collapsed lung and fractured rib at the Tour of the Basque country. Despite not appearing to defend his title, he did secure a stage victory in this year’s event.
During stage 11, Vingegaard won against Pogacar and surpassed Evenepoel to secure second place after coming in second behind Pogacar on stage 14.
Evenepoel wanted to win the time trial stage again, but Vingegaard overtook him at the first checkpoint. However, Pogacar then started and it was obvious he aimed to win the stage to demonstrate his complete control over the Tour.
Pogacar is just the eighth rider to accomplish the Giro/Tour double since Marco Pantani in the late 90s, having also captured six stages en route to claiming the Giro title.
Tadej Pogacar expressed that he felt significantly more confident during this Grand Tour compared to his previous experiences. Despite this newfound confidence, he did face challenges, mentioning that he had a particularly difficult day during the Giro. However, he did not go into detail about what made that day tough. His overall sense of assurance and preparedness was evident throughout the tour, enabling him to achieve the historic Giro/Tour double. This confidence and resilience were key factors in his remarkable performance, demonstrating his growth and maturity as a top competitor in the world of cycling.
“This year’s Tour de France has been absolutely fantastic and I have been thoroughly enjoying it from the very beginning up until now.”
Celebrate History: Pogacar from UAE Team Emirates achieves the first Giro/Tour double since 1998! Read more about this with Sports Monks.
Reference: https://www.rappler.com/sports/tour-de-france-results-tadej-pogacar-july-2024/