By: STA
Slovenian road cycling superstar Tadej Pogačar won his third Tour de France title after a third straight stage win, becoming the first rider after Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both the Tour and the Giro d’Italia in the same year.
Winning the final stage of the race, an individual time trial, Pogačar took a total of 6 stage victories in his fifth Tour de France, and 17th overall for his 20th win this year.
The 25-year-old Slovenian UAE Emirates rider finished the most prestigious of the three Grand Tours with a 6:17 lead over his long-standing rival, Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike). Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quickstep) was third in the general classification, 9:18 adrift.
“I’m super happy. I cannot describe how happy I am after two hard years in the Tour de France. Always some mistakes and this year everything to perfection. I’m out of words, so I’m super happy to win here, incredible,” Pogačar said at the finish.
“Totally confident” throughout the race
“I think this is the first Grand Tour where I was totally confident every day. Even at the Giro I remember I had one bad day, but I won’t tell which one. This year, the Tour was just amazing. I was enjoying it from day one until today and I had such great support behind me. I just couldn’t let anyone down, so I was enjoying it for them as well,” he said.
This year, Pogačar dominated the Tour after having already won Giro d’Italia in May, while Vingegaard came to the tour following a crash at the Tour of Basque Country in April.