Tadej Pogacar wins record-equaling fifth Tour de France title

PARIS — Tadej Pogacar gained a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title Sunday.

The 27-year-old Slovenian dominated this yr’s race to hitch Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the one riders to win 5 Tours.

After ending safely in Sunday’s twenty first and closing stage in Paris, Pogacar completed 6 minutes, 26 seconds over Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel within the general standings.

Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro, a 22-year-old Mexican making his Tour debut, was third at 9:42 again from Pogacar, who smiled and held up his hand to suggest his wins. His teammates then joined him as they stood proudly on the Champs-Élysées.

Pogacar gained 5 phases at this yr’s race to take his spectacular tally to 26 general.

He tried to win Sunday, too, however victory in the end went to Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who simply held off the chasing pack on the house straight for his second stage win at this yr’s race and fourth general.

Sunday’s 88.7-kilometer (55-mile) stage looped round Paris and was principally processional, though much less so than in earlier years, which had been often fully flat phases for sprinters and never for the remainder of the peloton.

For the second straight yr the stage featured the vastly fashionable uphill climb by means of the Montmartre district, a pointy 1-kilometer sprint which riders tackled 3 times earlier than ending on the Champs-Élysées.

It proved even an excessive amount of for Pogacar, who couldn’t match Van der Poel’s uncooked energy within the closing phases.