The Tour victory marks the Slovenian’s third consecutive victory, tying him with four other riders on the all-time list.
Published July 27, 2026
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar safely passed the final stage on Sunday, with Mathieu van der Poel winning, sealing his third consecutive crown in cycling’s greatest race and clinching a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title.
The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates XRG cyclist, affectionately known as ‘Posi’, became a five-time Tour champion alongside the likes of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, just by avoiding a race-ending accident on the run to Paris.
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Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel finished second overall, while Mexico’s Isaac del Toro rounded out the podium in third overall.
“Thank you to all the fans and all of France for hosting this great race,” Pogačar said.
“Thank you to our competitors for a great show. We fought hard these past three weeks.”
Van der Poel heads to the final stage
Pogačar and van der Poel broke away on the final climb of Montmartre with about 10 kilometers (6 miles) remaining and took a narrow advantage heading into the Champs-Elysées as the chasing group closed in relentlessly.
The Slovenian’s challenge fizzled within the final kilometer, but van der Poel held off Alpecin Premier Tech teammate Jasper Philipsen to seal the victory in a photo finish, with Riddle Trek’s Mads Pedersen third.
“I was already thinking about this moment when I was sick last year and had to watch the stage on TV,” said Van der Poel, 31.
“The process is like a dream. It’s unbelievable. It’s been very hard and to be able to stand there with the best riders in the world is a tribute to Tadej.”
“I thought they were going to catch me, but all I could think about at the time was this moment. With 500 meters to go I put my head down and just ran as hard as I could.
“I’m very happy. I still have a few races to go, but I still wanted to win in my career, and this was one of them.”
supreme pogachar
Pogačar underlined his dominance throughout the Tour with five stage wins.
The road to a third consecutive yellow jersey became less complicated after two-time Tour winner Jonas Vindegaard, widely seen as his main challenger, crashed on the 15th stage and withdrew.
The Tour’s traditional finale in Paris was cut short after security forces were redeployed to fight wildfires near Bordeaux. As a result, stage 21, which typically sees the peloton enter Paris before completing a few laps around the Champs-Elysées, was shortened from the originally planned 133km to 89km.
This year’s race also produced a notable first: no riders from France, Italy or Spain won a stage, making it the first Tour de France to be held without a stage win from any of the three countries that created and hosted cycling’s Grand Tours.
Pogacar’s latest victory capped a three-week run of racing, his first since the Grande Part in Barcelona, and further cemented his status as one of the leading riders of his generation.
