Tadej Pogacar was also in a class of his own in the last individual time trial. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Finally: Pogacar’s last demonstration of power

Tadej Pogacar has won the Tour de France and is the first professional cyclist in 26 years to win the double of Tour and Giro d'Italia.

July 21, 2024

From: dpa/dl

The Slovenian secured the overall victory on Sunday in Nice ahead of the Danish defending champion Jonas Vingegaard. Pogacar had already won the Tour of Italy in May. Pogacar also won the final individual time trial over 33,7 kilometers from Monaco to Nice. Vingegaard came second ahead of the Belgian Remco Evenepoel. The same picture emerged in the overall classification, where Pogacar was 6:17 minutes ahead of Vingegaard and 9:18 ahead of Evenepoel.

Olympic champion Richard Carapaz was the first Ecuadorian to win the jersey for the best climber. Biniam Girmay from Eritrea also won the green jersey for the professional with the most points. Time trial world champion Evenepoel won the white jersey for the best young professional in his first Tour de France.

Seventh professional with double

The last time two victories in the same year in the two most important national tours of the world were won by the Italian Marco Pantani in 1998. Before that, only the Spaniard Miguel Indurain, the Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil, the Belgian Eddy Merckx and the Italian Fausto Coppi celebrated double victories.

Pogacar had already started the individual time trial on Sunday with a lead of over five minutes over Vingegaard. On the extremely demanding course from his adopted home to Nice, the overall victory was never in danger, and instead the 25-year-old even extended his lead.

With a total of six stage wins, Pogacar ended his strongest Tour to date. The last person to achieve this many daily victories was Briton Mark Cavendish in the 2009 Tour. This year, Cavendish became the record stage winner with a total of 35 victories and finished the tour in last place.

Multiple winner of the Tour de France

With his third victory in the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar has entered an illustrious circle. Only nine professional cyclists have won the most important tour at least three times. The only others ahead of the Slovenian are the five-time winners Jacques Anquetil (FRA), Eddy Merckx (BEL), Bernard Hinault (FRA) and Miguel Indurain (ESP) as well as the four-time winner from Britain Chris Froome. Lance Armstrong (USA) had his seven victories revoked due to doping.


Stage 21 (Monaco – Nice, individual time trial, 33,7 km):
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE 45:24 minutes
2. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Visma +1:03 mins.
3. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Soudal +1:14.


Final overall ranking (after 3.498 km):
1. Pogacar 83:38:56 hrs.
2. Vingegaard +6:17 min.
3. Evenpoel +9:18
4. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE +19:03
5. Mikel Landa (ESP) Soudal +20:06
6. Adam Yates (GBR) UAE +24:07


Multiple winner of the Tour de France:
5 Jacques Anquetil (FRA) 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964
Eddy Merckx (BEL) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974
Bernard Hinault (FRA) 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985
Miguel Indurain (ESP) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
4 Christopher Froome (GBR) 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017
3 Philippe Thijs (BEL) 1913, 1914, 1920
Louison Bobet (FRA) 1953, 1954, 1955
Greg LeMond (USA) 1986, 1989, 1990
Tadej Pogacar (SLO) 2020, 2021, 2024
2 including Gino Bartali (ITA) 1938, 1948
Fausto Coppi (ITA) 1949, 1952
Bernard Thevenet (FRA) 1975, 1977
Laurent Fignon (FRA) 1983, 1984
Alberto Contador (ESP) 2007, 2009
Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) 2022, 2023