They say the hallmark of a champion is to perform when it matters most, when the pressure is highest, so what does that make Tadej Pogacar? A sadist, perhaps. On Sunday, with the yellow jersey already sewn up, with nothing to gain and everything to lose, he stormed to an otherworldly time-trial victory on stage 21, just because he could.
He had spent most of the past three weeks tearing the peloton to shreds, launching vicious attacks which splintered the chasing pack, each surge like a grenade thrown into the bunch. On this final ride, a 34km time-trial from Monaco to Nice, he fired one more, crushing not only his nearest rival Jonas Vingegaard but the time-trial world champion Remco Evenepoel too. Only in the last few metres of this 3,498km race did he let up, raising two hands to the sky as he crossed the line.
The Tour de France can be won in myriad ways. Geraint Thomas eked out seconds at opportune moments, gradually growing his gap. Chris Froome controlled every aspect of the race from inside his bunker of Sky domestiques. Here, Pogacar bullied the peloton from pillar to post, grabbing the yellow jersey on stage two, taking his first win on stage four and then obliterating his rivals on stages 14, 15, 19, 20 and again on 21.
His haul of six stages is the most of any Tour de France winner since Bernard Hinault in 1979. Aged 25, he has three yellow jerseys and is in the midst of a season from the gods, completing the first Tour-Giro d'Italia double this century. After losing to Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023, Pogacar has never looked stronger, reaching levels perhaps no modern-day rider ever has.
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