{"id":205928,"date":"2026-07-26T22:42:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=205928"},"modified":"2026-07-27T11:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T11:27:08","slug":"pogacar-joins-cycling-olympus-with-fifth-tour-de-france-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/07\/26\/pogacar-joins-cycling-olympus-with-fifth-tour-de-france-triumph\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar Joins Cycling Olympus with Fifth Tour de France Triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Poga\u010dar won his fifth Tour de France on Sunday in Paris and joins Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indur\u00e1in in the ranks of the immortals who have won the race five times. Indur\u00e1in, the only rider to win five consecutive Tours, completed his quintet of Tour victories in 1995.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Poga\u010dar finished 6:26 in front of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe), with his young UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG teammate Isaac del Toro completing the podium, at 9:42. The race also saw a remarkable performance by 19-year-old home <\/span>favourite<\/span> Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGA), who finished fourth in his first<\/span>-ever <\/span>three-week race. Chapeau!<\/span><\/p>\n

But the world champion was denied a final triumph on Sunday’s closing stage, when Mathieu van der Poel unleashed a typically powerful burst of speed in the final 500 met<\/span>res<\/span>, denying not only Poga\u010dar but a group of sprinters’ teams that were bearing down on the two in a thrilling final stage, in the dramatic setting of Montmartre, that matched the most exciting and dramatic Tour de France in memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the stage had been shortened due to a lack of internal-security personnel, many of whom were deployed to help battle catastrophic wildfires near Bordeaux. As a result, the course covered only 89 <\/span>km<\/span>, compared to the original 133 <\/span>km<\/span>, and the riders completed two additional laps of the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es before riding the Montmartre circuit to the finish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar really wanted to win this stage after an ailing knee<\/span>,<\/span> and Visma’s Wout van Aert deprived him of the win last year. But van der Poel was too strong<\/span>,<\/span> and the world champion was coming off an exhausting three weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>A year I was thinking about this, when I was sick last year and had to watch this stage on television,<\/span>\u201d<\/span> an exhausted van der Poel said afterwards. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>I was already thinking about this moment. And the way it went is a dream.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He went on to say, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>It was super hard, and to be up there with the best rider in the <\/span>world<\/span>, all my respect to Tadej. I thought we were going to be caught back, but I was thinking about this moment, and I just put my head down in the last 500 <\/span>metres<\/span>, and I went as hard as I could. <\/span>[\u2026]<\/span> If there was one race I still wanted to win in my career, I have a few of them, but this was one of them.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fellow Alpecin\u2013Premier Tech rider Jasper Philipsen finished second, with green jersey winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) coming third. <\/span><\/p>\n

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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Tour de France\u2122 (@letourdefrance)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n