Tadej Pogacar woke up in Paris on Monday as the fastest and youngest cyclist to win five Tours de France. The 27-year-old Slovene secured his fifth overall victory on the Champs Élysées on Sunday evening in a thrilling final stage won by Matthieu van der Poel.
Joining the legends
Pogacar now stands level with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin as a five-time Tour winner. He is expected to continue racing in pursuit of a record-breaking sixth win.
“When it’s not fun any more, that’s when he will stop,” his mother, Marjeta, said. Asked how long her son might continue at his current level, she replied: “Maybe 10 years – I don’t know, we’ll see.”
French media and stats
The French media were broadly supportive of Pogacar’s success. L’Equipe lauded his membership of the “club of five”. Aujourd’hui called it a “five-star triumph”, while Le Figaro described Pogacar as “untouchable, implacable and unbending”.
Pogacar’s CV is untouchable. His record of wins is arguably more complete than Merckx’s, with only Paris-Roubaix and the Vuelta a España, starting 22 August, still to be won. Over 16,911km ridden during his five wins, he spent almost 9,500km in the yellow jersey. He was the youngest five-time winner, achieving his successes in just under 404 hours of racing (Anquetil took almost 613). His average speed of 41.99kmh was faster than any other five-time winner, and he has won more mountain stages.
Prize money and other riders
UAE Emirates XRG, Pogacar’s team, earned €832,750 (about £712,000) in prize money, while the Picnic PostNL team won €12,770. For French cyclists, there were no home stage wins for only the third time, but three French riders – Paul Seixas, Lenny Martinez and Jordan Jegat – finished in the top 10.
The teenager Seixas, 19, was disappointed to finish fourth. “I’d hoped to make the podium in Paris as there wasn’t much between me and [Isaac] Del Toro,” he said. “But between myself and Pogacar, it’s a world apart. But it’s motivating and inspiring. It will make me work harder.”
Future and doping controls
Pogacar is expected to confirm he will start the Vuelta. Plans for Jonas Vingegaard, who crashed out of the Tour on the day he was visited by doping control at 2am, remain unclear. No results have been made known from those nocturnal controls. Le Figaro noted that credibility for the Tour and for Pogacar remains a “challenge greater than any record”.
