Slovenia's cycling superstar wins fourth Tour de France

Slovenia's cycling superstar wins fourth Tour de France

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Slovenia's cycling superstar Tadej Pogačar has won his fourth Tour de France title in Paris, finishing on the podium of the world's biggest road cycling race for the sixth year in a row. The 26-year-old, who notched up four individual stage wins this time, also took the polka-dot jersey of the race's best climber, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The Slovenian UAE Team Emirates captain held a significant lead in the overall standings going into the final day, but he fought hard in an attempt to clinch a fifth stage win on the wet Champs-Élysées before running out of strength on the final climb up Montmartre to finish fourth.

The stage was won by Belgium's Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who launched a powerful late attack to finish 19 seconds ahead of a chasing trio. Italy's Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) claimed second, while another Slovenian, Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) finished the stage third.

Commenting on the spectacular final stage, Pogačar said he initially lacked motivation after the exhausting three weeks of racing but "in the end, I was really happy they neutralised the times for the GC" (general classification) with 50 km left.

"Then it was more relaxed to race, and you just had to have good legs to be in front. I found myself in the front, trying to race. But, yeah, hats off to Wout; he was incredibly strong. It was a really nice race in the end today," the world champion said.

Eternal rivals

In the final general classification, Pogačar finished four minutes and 24 seconds ahead of Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who did not attempt to challenge the Slovenian on the final day.

"Just speechless to win a fourth Tour de France. Six years in a row on the podium and this one feels especially amazing, and I'm super proud that I can wear this yellow jersey," Pogačar said after the race.

With this victory, Pogačar draws level with Britain's Chris Froome on four Tour de France titles, with only four riders in history having won more. At the age of 26, he is the youngest rider ever to win the Tour four times. Pogačar also won last year and in 2020 and 2021 while finishing second, behind Vingegaard, in 2022 and 2023. The pair have won the last six Tour de France titles between them.

"We talked today in the neutral zone a bit about how much has changed in the last five years of us racing against each other. We've raised each other's level much higher, and we push ourselves to the limit to try and beat each other. I must say that battling against Jonas was, again, a tough experience. I have to say to him: respect, and big, big congratulations for his fight. An incredible race," Pogačar said about his eternal rival Vingegaard.

Pogačar has so far collected 104 career wins, including the 2024 Giro d'Italia in his debut. He is expected to compete in this year's Vuelta a Espana to complete his set of Grand Tour titles.

Two Slovenians among top 10

The main battle behind Pogačar and Vingegaard was for the final podium spot, where German rider Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked on the final stage to gain ten seconds, securing third place overall ahead of Scotland's Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL).

The other Slovenian top contender, Lipowitz's teammate Primož Roglič finished the race eighth overall. Apart from the host France, Slovenia is the only other country with two riders in the top 10 overall. Another Slovenian, Luka Mezgec (Jayco-AlUla) finished the three-week race, placing further down in the general classification.

In a tribute to Slovenia's excellent riders, Prime Minister Robert Golob was in Paris on the last day of the French Grand Tour to formally present a letter of intent for Slovenia to host the opening of the Tour de France in 2029 to the race director Christian Prudhomme.

The bid includes a brochure with three proposed stages, with the first, from Novo Mesto in the southeast to the capital Ljubljana, designed for sprinters, a second more varied route from Nova Gorica in the west to Portorož at the seaside, and the third starting in Kranj and concluding with a summit finish on the Vršič Pass.

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