RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France for a record-equalling fifth time.
The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider crossed the line on Paris' Champs-Elysees in the peloton, to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the endurance event's most successful male riders.
All-conquering Pogacar raised the idea that his remarkable reality is proving stranger than fiction, describing it as "something you wouldn't even maybe write in a story book".
The three-week Grand Tour's final stage was won by the Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Premier Tech after a frantic charge to the line on the French capital's famous cobbles in which he pipped Denmark's Mads Pedersen by inches.
Pogacar's victory means he is positioned by many as the greatest cyclist of all time, superseding the achievements and status of Belgian legend Merckx.
It also marks Pogacar's third Tour win in succession and includes a record-breaking ascent of the iconic Alpe d'Huez on stage 19, when he sealed another dominant victory.
It was the last of four stage wins in a race in which Pogacar used his explosive launch and unmatchable metronomic pace to see off his rivals, who for some time have had virtually no answer.
Pogacar has won almost every major race in the sport, including the Tour of Flanders, Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo, Road World Championships, Giro di Lombardia and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Pogacar was booed by some fans during the Tour, as his performances are often so far ahead of any of his peers that some feel frustrated the sport is losing its competitive edge.
He now has 126 wins in an eight-year elite professional career.
"Victory is really special," said Pogacar. "Thank you to all the fans and my team.
"But the biggest thanks goes to all my family who support me all my life. My parents - without them I would not be standing here five times already.
"Seven Tours and seven times on the podium, and five wins, is something you wouldn't even maybe write in a story book, and it's unbelievable for me.
"It's a magnificent podium with some incredible champions to fight with.
"It's a shame Jonas [Vingegaard] crashed out this time and many others. I hope they have a quick recovery and next year we fight again."
The famous final stage, which for the overall contenders is an unchallenged formality, typically becomes a flat bunch sprint.
Last year organisers ASO introduced a circuit which takes on a cobbled climb over the city's famous Montmartre hill, changing the parcours enough to encourage the heavier, more powerful riders to challenge for victory.
On Sunday it was powerhouse classics legend Van der Poel who took victory after charging away with 11km remaining with Pogacar.
Pogacar and Van der Poel led through the picturesque and narrow lanes over Montmartre and past Sacre-Coeur, where some fans had mobile phones knocked out of their hands as the riders squeezed past at speed, before Pogacar began to fade after three weeks of dominance and showing no weakness.
Van der Poel, whose strength and staying power allow him to pull out gaps in gruelling one-day races, just managed to stay ahead of a chasing pack which included several sprinters and was rapidly closing, before he crossed the line, collapsed off his bike and lay under a barrier, breathing heavily for several minutes.
Van der Poel added this prestigious victory on the famous cobbles to many of the sport's biggest one-day races, such as multiple victories in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
He said: "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."
The stage was reduced from 133km to 89km after the redirection of emergency services to help tackle wildfires in south-west France.
Previous image Next image Slide 1 of 5 , Tadej Pogacar rides past the Arc de Triomphe , Pogacar leads the peloton past the Arc de Triomphe End of image gallery A future beyond Pogacar? The one rider who has broken Pogacar's stranglehold of cycling's biggest race in the past was Denmark's Vingegaard, who won in 2022 and 2023.
But this year the 29-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider abandoned after breaking his collarbone on a easy right-hand bend on stage 15.
The mistake was very unlike Vingegaard's near perfect technique and execution as a rider, and attention soon turned to scrutiny of the International Testing Agency (ITA), which had awoken Vingegaard at 2am to carry out an anti-doping test.
Other riders had the same treatment, including Pogacar at 5am, but the ITA said there was "exceptional circumstances" to take the night tests, which are rare and require additional permission.
It is not known when the test results will be published.
Pogacar's only other real rival was the much-improved Belgian Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgohe, who finished six minutes 26 seconds behind overall.
Third place went to Pogacar's Mexican team-mate Isaac del Toro, who won stage two thanks largely to Pogacar's babysitting pace in the lead-up to the line.
It would not be the only time Pogacar would aid Del Toro, 22, sacrificing his own potential victory on Saturday's brutal 'queen' stage to Alpe d'Huez to consolidate Del Toro's place on the podium.
Del Toro's white jersey for the best young rider came at the expense of France's new 19-year-old star Paul Seixas of Decathlon-CMA CGM. Seixas looked stronger than Del Toro at times on the climbs but faded substantially on Saturday.
Many think Seixas will be a rival to Pogacar in the future.
In the year when Britain's four-time Tour winner Chris Froome retired, his former team - now known as Netcompany Ineos Cycling - failed to record a stage victory in 21 attempts.
Ex-Ineos rider Tom Pidcock of Pinarello-Q36.5 won on Alpe d'Huez four years ago and returned to this race having achieved much with a new team built entirely around him.
The 26-year-old did not manage to win a stage, but he and his team ...
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