Pogacar heralds cycling’s ‘golden age’ after Tour de France win

Tadej Pogacar hailed a new “golden age” for cycling after securing a third Tour de France title on Sunday to add to his 2020 and 2021 triumphs.

The 25-year-old won the final day’s time trial with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard coming second, 1min:03sec adrift, on the day to seal second overall ahead of Remco Evenepoel, third on the day and overall.

Victory also gave Pogacar the first Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

“It was an amazing journey. What a battle with Jonas and Remco. So much happened,” said the champion who finished 6:17 minutes ahead of Vingegaard in the final standings. Evenepoel was 9:18 off the pace.

“We are living in the golden age of cycling. The rivalry with Remco (Evenepoel), Jonas (Vingegaard), Primoz (Roglic) is just incredible. We have to take advantage of this moment.”

Astonishingly, Pogacar won six stages on this edition of the Tour, just as he did when winning the Giro earlier in the season.

“To achieve the double is incredible,” said Pogacar, who had been runner-up to Vingegaard for the past two years.

“When I won the Giro, some people said that it would serve as a safety net for me if I didn’t win the Tour. Winning the Tour still represents the level above and winning the two is the next level.”

The world’s greatest bike race, broadcast across the globe, featured a novelty finale on the French Riviera because of the Olympic Games in Paris.

With five stage wins already under his belt, Pogacar stormed out of his adopted hometown of Monaco and up the coast to Nice where he leapt into the arms of his teammates on the celebrated Promenade des Anglais.

Pogacar took the overall lead on a downhill on day four as the race arrived in France from Italy via the Alps. By the time the race returned to the Alps, Pogacar was three minutes clear and Vingegaard was starting to flag with the Dane still not fully recovered from a major crash in March.

After winning stage 19 on Friday, Pogacar knew he had won and Vingegaard switched his attention to finishing second.

Vingegaard crashed heavily earlier this year and was praised for even making it to the start line, but ahead of Sunday’s time trial he expressed a desire to win another stage.

“Under normal circumstances I would have been disappointed. This is such a wonderful race, the yellow jersey is the most beautiful of all. I’ll be back to try for a third one next year,” said the 27-year-old.

Though he started well, as has often been the case in this Tour, he was a distant second-best. He did, however, beat pre-race favourite Evenepoel, who cried at the finish line.

Evenepoel may not have won the final-day time trial but he captured the first time trial in week two. He also came third in the overall standings and won the white jersey for best young rider.

“Tadej is on another planet, I have a gap to bridge between me, Tadej and Jonas, but this was a good Tour, a good test for me,” said the 24-year-old Belgian.

Other stars emerged along the way as Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay won three stages, the points green jersey and national hero status in his homeland. Riding a green bike and also decked out from head to toe in the colour, Girmay was seen off by a clutch of his countrymen in Monaco.

“It’s astonishing,” the Eritrean said. “The feelings, the emotions, I want to share them with the people from my country.”

AFP