For the first time in history, the cycling tour of France will end somewhere other than Paris or its vicinity. However, Tadej Pogačar is celebrating his third Tour victory.
The cycling tour of France ends today, but not in the traditional way in Paris. For the first time in the Tour’s 121-year history, the cyclists are not clinking champagne glasses in the French capital because of the Olympics, but are seriously riding the 33-kilometer Mäkinen time trial from Monaco to Nice.
Tadej Pogačar has dominated this year’s Tour since the fourth stage and is already aiming for the third overall victory of his career. He has achieved his previous victories in 2020 and 2021. The Slovenian admits that he doesn’t like the way this year’s Tour is decided – even though the change means he gets to sleep the night between Saturday and Sunday at home.
– It’s really a very different decision, but I don’t like it. I don’t start until six in the evening, so it’s a long day ahead. I prefer the Champs-Élysées, said Pogačar, who starts the time trial at 19:45 Finnish time.
It is the first time in 35 years that the Tour de France ends with a time trial. When this happened the last time in 1989, the Tour saw one of the most dramatic battles for victory. American Greg LeMond won the overall race by just eight seconds ahead of the Frenchman Laurent Fignon.
This time, this will hardly happen, as Pogačar reaches the final stage with a lead of 5 minutes and 14 seconds. Pogačar has won five stages in this Tour. These stages were all mountain stages, and only Italy has been able to achieve a similar performance Gino Bartali in 1948.
The Dane who won the previous two Tours Jonas Vingegaard is second, but Belgium Remco Evenepoel is on his heels. The difference between the two is 2.50, but Evenepoel is the day’s favorite to win.
– He is the best time trialist in the world, Vingegaard praised his competition partner.
If, or rather when, Tadej Pogačar wins the Tour de France overall today, he will become the first male rider in 26 years to win both the Tour of Italy and the Tour of France in the same season. The previous rider who won these two tours in the same year was Italian Marco Pantani 1998.
– Tomorrow can still be a dangerous stage, so I will try to drive carefully to Nice. I would have liked to drive together with the team, Pogačar said on Saturday.
Sources: AFP, AP, Reuters