Tadej Pogačar made a way to a fourth victory for the Tour de France on Sunday, beating the Jonas Vingegaard rival at 4:24 am through the famous finish line of the Champions-Élysées.
Presented as a confrontation between two titans, this year’s race was filled with ghosts from the Pugačar past, including the climb to Hautacam, Mont Ventoux and the Col de la Loze, where he had lost a lot of time during previous visits against Vingegaard.
This year, Pogačar, of the Emirates XRG water team, conquered them all.
“Just speechless to win the Tour de France. This one seems particularly incredible,” he said. “Just super proud to be able to wear this yellow jersey.”
Vingegaard, from Denmark, suffered significant time loss at the start of the race starting with his sloppy performance during the time trial of stage 5. He crossed the arrival at 1:20 behind Pogačar, who continued to make a stable time gap which ultimately became too big for Vingegaard to overcome.
Despite the launch of the attack after the attack and the maintenance of an optimistic attitude during the interviews, Vingegaard, of Visma – according to a bicycle, turned out to be a simple mortal compared to the superhuman prowess of Pogačar.
“Fighting Jonas was a difficult experience, but I must tell him, respect and great congratulations for his fight and incredible race,” said Pogačar.
On Sunday, the double winner of the Vingegaard tour finished second in Pogačar three times. He will then face the Vuelta in España, the great Spanish tour, in August.
His teammate, the Belgian rider Wout Van Aert, won the rainy scene on Sunday, which presented three climbs around Montmartre instead of the ceremonial tradition in Paris. Van Aert amazed the spectators in the last kilometer around the hill, known for its artistic history and the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, when he dropped Pogačar during a last attack on the steepest section.
“We arrived at this tour with the ambition to also win the yellow jersey, but the strongest rider in the race and the largest road rider won,” said Van Aert. “I am proud of the way we ran into a team, how we continued to try every day.”
The German climber Florian Lipowitz, from Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe, finished third in the general classification, at 11:09 am behind Pogačar and winning the white jersey of the best young rider. His podium is all the more impressive since it was his debut on tour. He was supposed to play a support role for his teammate and veteran of the Primož Roglič tour of Slovenia.
But in the end, Lipowitz, who is 11 years younger than Roglič, 35, became the strongest rider. And Roglič, who crashed into several major tours in recent years, seemed happy to finish the race.
Indeed, this year’s tour has been filled with unforgettable performance of the next generation of emerging talents.
Few people could have predicted the rise of the Irish climber Ben Healy, who wore the yellow jersey for two days earlier in the race after launching strong attacks based solely on the instinct. His team, EF Education-Easypost, entered the race without his team leader, Richard Carapaz, but Healy quickly entered the role. He won the victory of stage 6 and received the “super combative” tour for what his team described as “exploits” on the road.
“It is one thing to achieve what you have decided to achieve; it is another to do it with a smile,” said the sports director of the Charly Wegelius team in a press release.
Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan, from Lidl – Trek, dominated the green jersey for much of its beginnings on tour. The point classification competition seemed to open in stage 3 when the title champion, Jasper Philipsen, of Alpine – Deceneuninck, was thrown on his handlebars during an intermediate sprint. The Belgian fastman was forced to abandon with a fractured collarbone and at least a broken coast.
Milan and his teammate Quinn Simmons, from Durango, Colorado, quickly started a relentless campaign for the remaining sprinters and succeeded. Simmons, wearing his emblematic handlebar mustache and the American Flag Road Champion’s jersey, was seen at the front of the peloton almost every day for three weeks. He turned out to be the perfect head man for Milan, who would not leave the rain or the accidents slow down.
In the end, Milan was ahead of Pogačar in the classification of end points and Simmons offered to her girlfriend – she said yes! – After crossing the finish line.