Tadej Pogačar doesn’t do suspense. The 27-year-old Slovenian wrapped up his fifth Tour de France on Sunday the way he spent most of July — so far ahead that the only real drama was which jersey color he’d be photographed in next.
Yellow, as always. But the number underneath it is the story.
Pogačar’s victory on the Champs-Élysées pulled him level with Eddy Merckx, Miguel Induráin, Jacques Anquetil, and Bernard Hinault as the only riders to win cycling’s greatest race five times. Lance Armstrong’s seven titles were stripped in 2012 for doping, leaving the five-win club as the sport’s clean ceiling. Pogačar crashed through it at an age when most grand tour specialists are still figuring out how to survive three weeks without cracking.
“I’m speechless. It’s an incredible day, there was an incredible atmosphere,” Pogačar said. “I’ve ridden seven Tours already and I’ve always finished on the podium. You might think this is a fairytale, it’s incredible for me too.”
The margin told its own story. Pogačar finished with a total time of 73 hours, 56 minutes, and 26 seconds — 6 minutes and 26 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel. Isaac Del Toro, Pogačar’s 22-year-old UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate from Mexico making his Tour debut, took third at 9:42 back. France’s Paul Seixas and Lenny Martinez rounded out the top five.
Two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard entered as Pogačar’s chief rival, the Dane who broke Pogačar’s streak in 2022 and 2023. He crashed out on Stage 15, and with him went the last plausible counter-narrative to Pogačar’s dominance.
“Shame that Jonas and others crashed out of this Tour,” Pogačar said. “I hope we can all fight again next year.”
Pogačar won five individual stages this year, bringing his career Tour stage total to 26. He attacked from deep in the mountains, held his nerve in the time trials, and never let the yellow jersey leave his shoulders once he had it. The man rides like he’s got a grudge against the peloton and the watts to settle it.
The final stage itself was a logistical compromise. Originally scheduled to run 133 kilometers from Thoiry into Paris, it was shortened to roughly 89 kilometers and rerouted entirely within the capital after wildfires in southwestern France forced organizers to pull security personnel from the route and reassign them to emergency response. The start was delayed to around 5:50 p.m. local time.
For the second straight year, the finale sent riders up the Montmartre climb three times — a one-kilometer gut-punch up Rue Lepic with the Sacré-Cœur basilica watching from above. Pogačar pushed hard on the final ascent but couldn’t match the raw power of Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who launched a long-range sprint and barely held off the charging pack to take the stage win. Jasper Philipsen and green-jersey winner Mads Pedersen followed him across the line. Pogačar eased up and finished 30th on the stage.
“I thought the sprinters would catch us up so I launched from very far away,” Van der Poel said. “I gave everything I had left in my legs and it was just enough.”
Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz claimed the polka-dot jersey as the race’s best climber. “I battled hard to win this jersey, it was a great fight,” the 33-year-old said. “It’s the best feeling to win it.”
Pogačar has now won the Tour in 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, and 2026 — three straight, with Vingegaard’s two titles the only interruption. He won the Giro d’Italia in 2024. The one gap on his résumé is the Spanish Vuelta, which begins August 22.
“Will I be at La Vuelta in a few weeks?” he said. “Let’s see.”
He doesn’t know yet. Everyone else already knows what happens when he shows up.
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