Pogacar’s Tour de France dynasty continues with record-equalling fifth title

PARIS (Agencies): Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar ​secured a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title on Sunday after safely navigating the final stage, won ‌by Mathieu van der Poel, to seal a third consecutive crown in cycling’s greatest race. The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates XRG cyclist, affectionately known as “Pogi”, only needed to avoid a race-ending mishap on the run into Paris to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as a five-time ​Tour champion. Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel finished second overall, while Mexico’s Isaac del Toro rounded out the overall podium in ​third. “Thank you to all the fans and to all of France for hosting this great race,” ⁠Pogacar said. “Thank you to my competitors for putting on a great show. We fought hard over the last three weeks.”

‘A ​DREAM’:

Van der Poel and Pogacar broke away on the final ascent of Montmartre with around 10 kilometres remaining and took a slender ​advantage into the run to the Champs-Elysees as the chasing group closed relentlessly. Pogacar’s challenge faded inside the final kilometre, but Van der Poel pressed on to secure victory in a photo finish ahead of Alpecin–Premier Tech teammate Jasper Philipsen, with Mads Pedersen of Lidl–Trek in third. “When I was sick ​last year and I had to watch the stage on television, I was already thinking about this moment,” Van der Poel, ​31, said. “The way it went, it’s a dream. It’s incredible. It was super hard, and to be up there with the best rider ‌in the ⁠world, all my respect for Tadej. “I thought we were going to get caught back, then I was just thinking about this moment. I put my head down in the last five hundred metres. I just went as hard as I could… “I’m super happy. I have a few races I still wanted to win in my career and this was one of them.”

SUPREME POGACAR:

Pogacar ​underlined his supremacy throughout the ​Tour by claiming five ⁠stage victories. His path to a third straight yellow jersey became less complicated when two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, widely regarded as his principal challenger, withdrew after a crash on Stage 15. The Tour’s traditional finale ​in Paris was shortened after security forces were redeployed to help tackle wildfires near Bordeaux. ​As a result, ⁠Stage 21, which customarily takes the peloton into Paris before several laps of the Champs-Elysees, was reduced to 89 kilometres from the 133 originally scheduled. This year’s race also produced a remarkable first: no rider from France, Italy or Spain won a stage, making it ⁠the ​first Tour de France without a stage victory from any of the three ​nations that created and host cycling’s Grand Tours. Pogacar’s latest triumph caps three weeks of racing since the Grand Depart in Barcelona and further cements his status ​as the dominant rider of his generation.