Tadej Pogacar on Sunday became the first Slovenian to win the Tour de France after he retained the yellow jersey in the 21st stage, a day after he pulled off a major coup to take the overall lead.
While Sam Bennett won the final stage, the day belonged to UAE Team Emirates rider Pogacar, who celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday and is the youngest man to win the race since Henri Cornet in 1904.
Pogacar, who claimed the yellow jersey from a stunned Primoz Roglic with a monumental performance in Saturday’s time trial, also won the white jersey for the best under-25 rider and the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification.
Photo: Reuters
Roglic ended up second, 59 seconds behind, with Australian Richie Porte taking third place, 3:30 off the pace.
“This is an incredible feeling, standing here in Paris on the top of the podium. It was an amazing three weeks, an incredible journey,” Pogacar said. “I want to thank all those who made it happen. It was three memorable weeks on the French roads ... I won’t find the words to express my feelings.”
Pogacar also won three stages in one of the most brilliant individual performances in Tour history, leaving Roglic’s dominant Team Jumbo-Visma wondering what went wrong.
“We didn’t see it coming,” said Roglic’s teammate and former Tour runner-up Tom Dumoulin.
Bennett became the first Irishman since Sean Kelly in 1989 to win the green jersey for the points classification, ahead of Peter Sagan, who was looking to claim it for a record-extending eighth time.
Bennett was the strongest at the end of the 122km ride to Paris, beating world champion Mads Pedersen, with Sagan coming third.
Switzerland’s Marc Hirschi was voted the Tour’s most aggressive rider after taking a brilliant win in the longest stage of the 107th edition.
It was an anti-climatic finale on the Champs-Elysees in Paris as only 5,000 fans were allowed on the famous avenue as a precaution against COVID-19, but reaching the capital was a relief for the organizers, who had imposed strict regulations to protect the race “bubble.”
The bubble did not burst as only four team employees tested positive for COVID-19 and were removed from the race, preventing a spread that could have stopped the Tour. No rider tested positive.
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