The Slovenian star matched historic cycling legends while teammate Isaac del Toro claimed third overall in his race debut.
Tadej Pogačar completed his fifth Tour de France victory on Sunday, equalling the all-time wins record held by Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain, who stand in first place on the win table with five each. The 27-year-old Slovenian finished the race with a total time of 73:56, holding a 6:26 advantage over Belgian runner-up Remco Evenepoel.
Historic Milestones and Overall Standings
Behind him, 22-year-old Mexican rider Isaac del Toro secured third place overall in his debut appearance at the race, holding the yellow jersey for a major portion of the stages after taking it less than a week into the competition.
Stage 20 Mountain Drama and Carapaz’s Final Climb
The race for the secondary jerseys was fiercely contested right down to the penultimate stage on Saturday. Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won the final mountain stage after breaking away toward Alpe d’Huez following two crashes by American rider Sepp Kuss in the final kilometers.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider completed the 170.9-kilometer stage from Le Bourg-d’Oisans to secure his second victory in three days and clinch the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountains with 156 points, after winning stages 18 and 20. Carapaz and Kuss had been part of a breakaway group formed as early as the first climb out of the day’s four major climbs. The two, alongside Australian Jai Hindley, proved to be the strongest riders in the group before Kuss attacked roughly 17 kilometers from the finish and opened up a small gap.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider looked to be on his way to victory before crashing inside a tunnel and then again on the descent. Carapaz closed the gap to him, passed him, and continued to victory, crossing the finish line 31 seconds ahead of Kuss. Kuss also lost second place in the final meters after being overtaken by Belgian Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. Evenepoel finished second, trailing the winner by 26 seconds, while Kuss had to settle for third place. He displayed persistence. He just kept fighting, said Carapaz’s sports director, Charly Wegelius, according to the reporting outlet. Wegelius added, Kuss broke away once and he managed to get back to him, then again when he was just trying to hang on and shave off a few seconds here and there. He just didn’t give up.
He displayed persistence. He just kept fighting. Charly Wegelius, sports director
Team Tactics and the Battle for the Podium
While Carapaz battled Kuss, general classification leader Tadej Pogačar smoothly navigated the penultimate stage and all but secured a fifth Tour de France victory, holding a lead of more than seven minutes over Evenepoel ahead of Sunday’s final stage. Rather than chasing a second stage win, the Slovenian dedicated much of the day to assisting his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate, Isaac del Toro, who solidified his grip on third place overall. Del Toro finished fifth on the stage after leaving behind young French rider Paul Seppias on the climb to the Col de Sarenne—leaving Seppias, who had opened the day just 24 seconds behind the Mexican in the battle for the final podium spot, to drop to tenth place and trail Del Toro by 2:14 minutes in the overall standings ahead of the finish in Paris on Sunday.
Evenepoel ultimately claimed second place on the stage, while Kuss settled for third. Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek secured the green jersey as the points king with 559 points, while Richard Carapaz won the polka dot jersey with 156 points, and Del Toro claimed the young rider title.
Route Adjustments Prior to Paris Finale
Logistical challenges altered the final stretch of the race. Organizers and police shortened the final stage from 133 kilometers to 89 kilometers to allow security forces to transition to handling the wildfires raging near Bordeaux, as stated by the race organizers and police.
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